Double Trouble
by Gamer-Otaku Takara
Summary: Meet Audrey and Averil Shepard: sisters that couldn't be more different. One's a paragon; the other is a renegade. One's a respected commander, the other is a Spectre. One's a biotic, the other isn't... Follow along as these two women save the galaxy...again. And watch as Audrey tries to keep her sister from shooting everyone. Audrey Shepard/Garrus, Averil Shepard/Kolyat pairings.
1. Chapter 1

Author Note: Hi readers! Double Trouble is a collaborative story between two authors – written by myself (Musicalrain) and Gamer-Otaku Takara! :) We will be taking turns writing the chapters – I'll write the first one, Takara the second, then I'll write the third, etc. This story takes place in ME2 and will include AU elements. I'll include more notes at the end of this chapter. I hope you enjoy! :D

…...

The woman sitting at the corner table in the mess, the table barely large enough to sit a single person let alone two, hits her head softly on the metal surface for what must be the third time at least.

"You're gonna hurt yourself," her male companion half chuckles around his mug of coffee.

She immediately raises her head and crosses her arms on the small table. She glares at the too-smug looking man with her steely-blue gaze for a moment, before sighing and placing her chin on her folded arms. "Why didn't they tell me she started waking up sooner Joker?"

"Probably because they knew you'd take it bad." He shakes his head.

"This isn't taking it bad." She sits up again and gestures at herself. "If it was the other way around and Averil was in my shoes, she'd have warped the nearest table... or person," she grimaces.

"This is _you _taking it bad, Miss Smarty-Pants." He pauses, "I think you're getting wrinkles."

"No I'm not," she gasps and brings a hand up to lightly touch her freckled forehead and nose. "And don't call me that," she sniffles. "I'm your commanding officer, in case you forgot."

"We're not on the SR-2." Joker takes a drink of his coffee. "Do you think they're telling the truth? That Averil should be ready to go by next week?"

She sighs heavily and leans back in her metal chair. "I hope so Joker – she's my baby sister... Do you know how many pings I've gotten from mom? And I can't even tell her any of this," she gestures widely with her arms. "And she's pissed about me leaving the Alliance to top it off."

"Well you were a commander of your own vessel. Even before the SR-1, when you were trying to keep your Super-Spectre sister from beating the crap out of idiots while we chased down Saren like crazed chickens with our heads cut off."

"Thank you for that wonderful summary of my life." She sighs and rakes a hand through her short reddish-blonde hair. "It seems I'll always be trying to keep Averil out of trouble... I'll even join Cerberus to make sure she's alright. Never thought that would happen."

"Same here, Audrey," Joker replies. "But I owe your sister one. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for her."

She frowns at the pilot, "I would've done the same thing Joker. It's just how we Shepards are wired – no one gets left behind if we can help it."

His fingers flutter on his mug uncomfortably. "Yeah. Still. If I can help Averil at all I will. And you too of course," Joker's quick to correct himself. "I'm not picking favorites or anything."

Audrey shakes her head the same time a soft beep is heard from her omni-tool. She quickly opens it only to groan.

"Is that mama Shep?" Joker asks.

"Sure is. With a complete lecture on my life choices too," she replies with pursed lips. "Maybe I should hack into her account and block all outgoing messages?" She stands as she closes her omni-tool. "Either way, I'm going to my room."

She turns to leave from the mess hall as Joker calls out, "Have fun!"

"Goodnight Joker," Audrey replies exasperatedly.

…...

Audrey sits heavily on her narrow bed and opens her omni-tool again. When she signed up with Cerberus, after throughly checking that they were telling the truth about reviving her sister, she had maintained her rank – and there were benefits. The narrow bed in the just-as-narrow private room were proof of that. Except she didn't have as much freedom. There was surveillance – everywhere. She herself had killed half-a-dozen bugs from her room with a shock of the overload on her omni-tool. And as far as she knows, they weren't replaced. Cerberus is monitoring her call logs, her incoming and outgoing messages, her extranet searches, and even her playlist – she knows since she herself wrote the programs installed in her omni-tool to counteract third-party tampering with the device. The only problem is, the third-party programs monitoring her device are more efficient than her own programs. Sure, if she had high-powered processors and unlimited creds at her disposal she would be able to counteract the programs, but she doesn't. And so now the whole of Cerberus knows that her mother thinks she should 'quit being irrational and settle down'. And 'wasn't that Alenko boy nice, what's wrong with him?'

_Mom,_

_I can assure you that I'm not being irrational. There's something bigger at stake here – I know it. And, no, you don't need to worry about my sanity. I have friends. I see them daily. I'm sure they would tell me were I crazy. Also – please quit trying to set me up. Kaidan's dating a doctor, last I heard. And he's not even my type. You know that. It didn't happen before, and it won't happen now. _

_Love, Audrey S._

She sends the message with a little too much force on the 'send' button before flopping back onto her stiff mattress. The 'something bigger at stake' she had mentioned in her message are the Collectors and their kidnapping of human colonies. The whole reason her baby sister is being brought back from the dead. The Illusive Man is convinced that Averil could make people listen – that the Reaper mumbo-jumbo in her head combined with her Spectre-Extrodinaire status would be enough to nip the Collectors' schemes in the bud. Audrey thinks that he's making her sister out to be some kind of super hero. But if he'll bring Averil back from being dead as dead can be, then she'll throw her lot in with them. Cerberus or not. She knows her duty. She's still the Commander of the Normandy – and big sister to the most impulsive biotic she knows. She still thinks it's a little... abnormal that her sister can make people float with her _mind_. Needless to say, the more cautious daughter of Hannah Shepard is not a biotic herself. Both sisters inherited a love of all things electronic from their mother, but Audrey more so. When Averil started to glow blue from eezo exposure, Audrey started to glow in the light emitted from her self-modified omni-tool. She's a natural engineer.

Audrey groans on her bed, and without looking kicks off her heavy Cerberus-issued boots. She has to gain the willpower to get out of her silly looking Cerberus-commander uniform before she can comfortably curl up to sleep. When she finally does, her last thoughts for the day are: _I hope Averil will be better soon._

…...

She wakes up groggily to an insistent beeping and buzzing of her omni-tool at... 0435 hours. Twenty-five minutes earlier than she usually wakes. With the time and the combination of annoying sounds from her omni-tool, the cause can only be one thing – a vid call from Garrus Vakarian.

She quickly runs her fingers through her hair to make herself mostly presentable. One of the benefits of her short 'pixie bob' haircut was that it was easy to fix, even after prolonged helmet wear. Her sister, however, liked to keep her hair more 'stylish'. Audrey rolls her eyes at her own thoughts before connecting to the vid call.

"Garrus?"

"Audrey. Good... I didn't wake you did I?"

She couldn't see much on the screen, just Garrus' blue-painted face in front of a rather plain-looking wall. The same wall that she always sees when he calls. When he calls, which isn't very often. He's the only one from the old SR-1 that she still talks to, other than Joker and Dr. Chakwas – since they've both joined up with Cerberus for Averil too. The former C-Sec officer went off the grid long before she did, but she's never questioned it. If anything, Garrus knows how to take care of himself. At least, she hopes he does.

"Nah," she shakes her head as she lies. "Just about to get ready for the day."

"Oh." His mandibles flutter, "Did you get a chance to look at the spy program I sent earlier? I'd ask Tali, but... I haven't had much contact with her."

The mention of the quarian engineer makes her stiffen a little bit. She knows that Garrus' subtle hint that her own technological skills are not up to par with Tali's is just a slight to try to get her motivated to do what he wants. It makes her squint her eyes at the turian and adopt her 'commander' face. "Yes. I did. Though I haven't had a chance to test it, as... something came up yesterday." She fights a wince at her own excuse. She can't very well tell him that it was because she had gotten word that Averil started to come to... and then had a minor freak-out in Joker's company. She types on her omni-tool to send the program to him. "I fixed a few of the sub-programs and runtimes. It was pretty good already."

"Thanks," he nods and she sees him type on his own omni-tool with his three-fingered hand. "One of my... friends has some information on illegal weapons trafficking and I'd like to see if I can get any of the smuggler's logs."

She snorts, "If they're like any smugglers I know, that program should take care of it." She smiles a little, "Doing good work?"

He rubs the back of his neck, "I'd like to think so."

"You've been at it for awhile." She frowns a little. "What's this – a year? Year and a half?"

"About that long," he looks briefly at his lap. "I have a good team though. We're making progress."

"Good. There's been progress over here too. I should be out on the field soon."

"Been cooped up too long?" He chuckles as his mandibles spread in a turian smile.

"Something like that." She sighs, "I should really get ready. It was good talking to you Garrus. Stay safe."

His mandibles flicker a little, "You too," he says before he cuts the vid call.

Every time she chats with him, she can't help but worry. It's difficult to see the signs of stress and fatigue on a turian, but once you know what to look for it's easy to spot. And Garrus has all the signs – the slightly watery eyes, drooping mandibles, and flecks of dry skin between his plates. She's concerned about her long time friend. He was one of the few people that helped her cope after Averil's death, even if the coping was sparring and weapons drills. Anything to get her mind off of the trauma of realizing one's only sister and biggest responsibility in the universe was dead. And that she couldn't _do_ anything about it. That feeling of helplessness... of emptiness was not easy to adjust to. And she still doesn't think she has, even if Averil is supposed to regain her life due to Cerberus. In the end though, it didn't really help. The way her sister's image was slandered... the rumors. They still got to her. They got to everyone who was close with the Spectre. The feeling of helplessness prevailed eventually. That feeling of helplessness and a sliver of hope led her to join Cerberus.

She finished her morning ritual in record time – a quick set of crunches and push-ups, shower, grooming, uniform changing and a quick scan of messages. She was just about finished with her bowl of instant oatmeal in the company of Joker and Dr. Chakwas when a monotone Cerberus official's voice sounded over the overhead speakers,

"We have received reports that the Lazarus Research Station is reporting anomalies with their security mechs. They have sounded alarms for a security breach. We have noted that 62% of the facility is now deemed hazardous. All survivors will be redirected to this facility. We will update at standard time intervals. All personnel please be on standby."

Audrey felt her heart lurch into her throat. The Lazarus Station is where Averil is being held. It's where she's being rebuilt. The entire facility was created for that purpose. If the facility is being attacked, her sister could be in danger. Her sister could die – again.

…...

Author Note: So! My Shep will be Audrey – and so my chapters will focus on her, whereas Takara's chapters will focus on her Shep Averil. They're both _very _different characters, as I'm sure you will see. We aim for updates every other week, and we will be publishing two chapters at each update (one written by me and the other written by Takara). Also! The cover image was painted by me – and you can find it on my deviantart account (Musicalrain0). Thank you all for reading! :) And feel free to drop us a review with your thoughts! - Musicalrain


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N****: Hello there! This is Gamer-Otaku Takara. As Musicalrain said, we will be taking turns with chapters...and this is mine! I hope you enjoy reading about Audrey's little sister! :3**

Chapter Two

"She's reacting to outside stimuli…showing an awareness of her surroundings."

_What the hell…?_

"God, Miranda…I think she's waking up!"

Strapped to a bed, a copper-brown haired woman slowly opens her eyes. Her vision is blurry, but she can make out the outline of machines and a couple people around her. A feeling of panicked confusion washes over her, and she can hear the muffled sound of her own quick breathing, feel the frantic pounding of her heart. Her pale green eyes dart back and forth around the room. _What's going on? Where am I? _

"Dammit, Wilson, she's not ready yet! Give her the sedative." A black-haired woman scowls at a bald man before looking down at her. She weakly tries to raise her hand, but the woman gently puts it back down. _Bitch, don't touch me! If I could move properly, you'd be a splatter on the wall right now…_ "Shepard, don't try to move. Just lie still." _Uh, too little too late, dumbass._ "Try to stay calm." _Stay calm? How can I stay calm?! I'm strapped to a bed in God-knows-where, with two people I don't know talking about sedating me! Rape! RAPE! _

"Heart rate's still climbing. Brain activity is off the charts." The woman walks over to the bald man as he stares at a monitor. "Stats pushing into the red zone...it's not working!" _Can someone get me a paper bag? People breathe into paper bags when they freak out, right? Also, I kinda feel like I'm gonna throw up…_

"Another dose. Now!" _Another one? Okay, that sounds a little fishy to me. You bitches are _so_ lucky I'm in the middle of a panic attack._

Her eyes start to droop. _Yup, I can feel that other dose kicking in…I think I'll just…take a nap before I kill you…_

"Heart rate dropping. Stats falling back into normal range. That was close, Miranda. We almost lost her."

The woman walks up to her again, peering down at her with a concerned frown. Then, she glares back at the other guy. "I told you your estimates were off. Run the numbers again!" She returns her gaze to the freckled Spectre on the bed. _Wouldja quit lookin' at me? Weirdo…_

That was her last thought before her world turned black.

_**LATER**_

_Ah, shit…_

Averil Shepard struggles to open her eyes. Her head throbbed something awful, and the alarms that were blaring overhead didn't help in the least. _Alarms…?_ She frowns._ Didn't I die? I _specifically_ remember getting spaced after saving Joker's crippled ass. And my oxygen pipe thing broke, and I suffocated…so, is this hell or something? I'm pretty sure I'm not going to heaven…_ She vaguely remembers waking up once before…man, that was a terrifying experience. Averil puts a hand over her chest. Feeling her heart beating steadily, she decides that she is _not_ dead.

"Wake up, Shepard."

A somewhat familiar voice speaks to Averil overhead. She recognizes the voice…it belonged to the dark-haired woman she saw before. _The touchy one. Wasn't I going to kill her?_ "Shepard, do you hear me? Get out of that bed now, this facility is under attack!"

Averil's eyes snap open. Scowling, she rubs her jaw and sits up. Okay, so she's in some sort of facility…and it was being attacked. Just her bloody luck. There better be a gun lying around somewhere. "Your scars aren't healed, but I need you to get moving. This facility is under attack!"

"Yeah, yeah, I heard you the first time," she mutters. She grabs her side when she sits up, after pain shoots through it. That's when she felt the rumblings…looking around, she sees that a lot of the monitors were flashing red warning signs, and the entire room was shaking. "Well, that can't be good."

"There's a pistol in the locker on the other side of the room. Hurry!"

Averil growls and swings her legs over the side of the bed, getting to her feet and stumbling across the floor in the direction of the locker. The pistol is an M-3 Predator…not a bad gun, but not a good one, either. There was even some N7 armor in there…eh, they wouldn't mind if she took it. Most of the people here are probably dead from the mysterious attackers anyway. She slips on the armor, and then checks to see how much ammo the gun had…which turns out to be none. "This thing is useless, it has no clips!" she says in frustration. "What do you expect me to do, pistol-whip 'em to death?" Not that she can't…actually, pistol-whipping people to death is fun. She can deal with that.

"There should be clips lying around somewhere…"

And so starts Averil's desperate run around the station. After being forced into cover by AWOL mechs, she shoots them right in their mechanical heads and moves on. Her muscles are still sore, so she didn't want to risk complete exhaustion by powering up her tech armor…which was a shame, because Averil really loved to be able to charge her enemies without worrying about her shields failing.

"Shepard! Over here!"

A deep, unfamiliar voice calls out to her, and she sees a dark-skinned man crouched behind a railing, pistol in hand. There were mechs across the room, trapped behind another railing, but she quickly runs beside him and crouches behind cover.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were still a work in progress," the man says.

"Are you with Miranda?" Averil asks, her eyes narrowing slightly.

"Yeah. Sorry, I forgot this is all new to you right now. I'm Jacob Taylor. I've been stationed here for—"

"_Hostiles detected._"

"Dammit!" Jacob pauses for a moment, leaning out of cover just long enough to blast off on of the mechs' heads. "Things must be worse than I thought if Miranda's got you running around. I'll fill you in, but we better get you to the shuttle first."

Shuttle? He expected her to run around with him, a stranger, and then get into a shuttle with him? These people were _really_ creeping her out…she wanted answers! She didn't care if they were being shot at by mechs, she wanted some answers now! "What's with the mechs?" Averil asks, her voice monotone.

"Security. Usually they fight _for_ us…somebody must have hacked 'em. That should be impossible, unless you have access. We've gotta get you outta here, Shepard." Averil resists the urge to punch him in the jaw. She wasn't some child that needed to be coddled and protected! She was a goddamn Spectre, for crying out loud! The first human Spectre ever! Yeah, she may have died, but that wasn't her fault! Blame space! She was brought back to life by these people anyway, so they must think she's important for _something_. But, recently revived or not, she could take on all the mechs in this place if she had to. She isn't a coward, and she certainly wasn't lacking in skill.

"Ever since I woke up, people have been telling me where to go and what to do," Averil huffs. "I need _answers._"

"Fair enough. I'll give you the quick version," Jacob says with a nod. "You and your ship were attacked and destroyed. You were killed, dead as dead can be when they brought you here. Our scientists have spent the last two years puttin' you back together. You've been comatose, or worse, that whole time. Welcome back to your life" Yeah, that was pretty quick.

Averil frowns. "This doesn't look like an Alliance facility." She wasn't a famous commander like her older sister, but she still had some ties to the Alliance…however, she highly doubted that they would spend two years rebuilding her.

"It's not," Jacob replies. "I can't say much more than that for now. The Alliance officially declared you killed in action. The whole galaxy thinks you're dead." _Well, isn't that just dandy. Hmm…I wonder how people would react if they saw me running around on the Citadel? Heh heh._ "And if we don't get to those shuttles, they'll be right."

"Are there any other survivors from the Normandy?" Her stomach clenched in anticipation for the answer. Her sister had been aboard…her friends…her only friends, really. If none of them had survived…especially Audrey, she wasn't sure how she would handle it. She'd probably destroy everything in sight.

"Tell you what." Jacob looked impatient. "Help me finish off these mechs, and I'll play 20 Questions with you all day. We're low on thermal clips, but I'm a biotic. Just give me the order when you want me to hit 'em with the good stuff." As a demonstration, Jacob stands up and quickly Pulls one of the mechs into the air.

So, after a quick battle with the remaining mechs, the two of them stand up. Jacob puts his pistol away and turns to Averil, but Averil didn't know anything about this guy. She opted to keep her pistol out. "Okay," Jacob says, "I promised I'd answer your questions. What do you want to know?"

"You said they spent two years rebuilding me," she replies slowly. "How bad were my injuries?" She was probably lucky her head didn't explode…or, maybe it did. Ew.

"I'm no doctor, but it was bad." Jacob shakes his head. "When I first saw you, you were nothing but meat and tubes." _Thanks for that lovely image._ "Anywhere else, and they'd have put you in a coffin. But Project Lazarus was different. Cutting-edge technology."

"What do you mean? Cloning?" she wonders suspiciously. If that was the case, there could be hundreds more versions of her on this station. Is she truly herself? Or is she just a copy of the real thing? That was an upsetting thought… "Cybernetics?" Now that, she could deal with. Who wouldn't want to be a super-powered android? Hell yeah!

"I don't know the details, you'd have to ask the scientists. But I'm _pretty _sure you're not a clone. They wanted to bring you back exactly as you were. You're still you…you just might have a few extra bits and pieces now." Averil releases a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. _Okay, so I'm not just a copy. Good._

"What can you tell me about the project?" She looks around. "Were there other test subjects?"

"Project Lazarus only had one subject." Jacob gestures to her. "The whole point was to bring you back. Just you." _Now I feel all special…but I still don't know _who_ it is that brought me back. Don't expect much gratitude from me, pal. _"Even that was a challenge. _Two years._ All the top scientists, the best technology money could buy." _Which is getting destroyed as we speak. Looks like I'm dealing with some pretty wealthy bastards, here._

"Do you know anything about this attack? Who's behind it, what they're after?"

"Damned if I know. I was getting' ready for some shut-eye, then bam! Bunch of explosions. Next thing I know, every damn mech in the room starts shooting, at us!" _Aw, poor baby. _"I'm guessing it had to be an inside job. You'd need top security access to hack all the mechs."

Averil decides to try asking the question she _most_ wanted answered once again. She takes a step toward Jacob. "The last thing I remember is the Normandy blowing up. Did anyone else make it?"

"Just about everybody survived." Her shoulders slumped with relief. "A few servicemen from the lower decks didn't get out. Navigator Pressley was killed by an explosion. But everyone else, including the non-Alliance crew—the asari, Liara, the quarian, and the others—they all made it out alive." _That means Audrey's still alive too…thank God._

"Do you know what any of them are doing now?"

"I don't know, Shepard. It's been two years. They've moved on, left the Alliance. Could be anywhere." Audrey left the Alliance? That was hard to believe…and it was even harder to believe that they'd let her go. She was the best damn commander they could ever even hope of having.

"What about the team? If they knew I was alive, they'd come back." She had faith in them. She wasn't one to place trust in anyone outside her own family…but she'd grown close to the crew in the time she'd spent on the Normandy with them. In a way…they were her family, too.

"Maybe you can track them down after we get off the station. …If we get off the station." _Someone's a pessimist. _

"When I first woke up, someone named Miranda was talking to me over the radio. We lost contact just before I ran into you."

"Miranda Lawson is the station's ranking officer. She led the Lazarus team. It was her job to bring you back to life, no matter what. Should've guessed she'd try to save you…she isn't about to give up on you now." Jacob pauses. "You said you lost contact. Could you tell what was happening?"

"There was some…gunfire, and an explosion before I lost her."

Jacob looks away. "She knows how to take care of herself…but I hope she's okay." Averil wouldn't really feel affected by her loss. She had been planning on killing her anyway.

Averil rolls her shoulders. She was through asking questions, it was time to blow this popsicle stand. "What's the quickest way to those shuttles?"

"Depends on where the mechs are thickest. It's probably best to—"

"_Check, check. Anyone on this frequency?_" A male voice suddenly blares from Jacob's Omni-tool. "_Anybody still alive out there? Hello?_"

"Wilson? This is Jacob. I'm here with Averil Shepard. Just took out a wave of mechs over in D Wing."

"_Shepard's alive? How the hell…n-never mind, you need to get her outta there! Get to the service tunnels and head for the network control room._"

"Roger that, Wilson. Stay on this frequency!"

"I remember a Wilson checking on me when I first woke up," Averil says, raising a brow slightly.

"That's him," Jacob says. "He's the chief medical tech. Answers directly to Miranda." He turns around. "C'mon, service tunnels are this way."

And the run-around continues. Averil and Jacob found Wilson after fighting through some mechs…he had gotten shot in the leg, so of course Averil was the one who had to do something about it. She wouldn't be able to kill Wilson just yet, either…she needed him at the moment, even if something about him was…off.

Then, Jacob decides to finally come clean and tell her who they worked for. His answer, however…caught Averil completely off guard. They worked for Cerberus. She doesn't know much about them, but she did know they're a pro-human terrorist organization…they claim to only be furthering human interests, but she didn't buy it. Racist bitches. _So, I get spaced, only to be brought back to life by terrorists? Can this get any weirder? Wait, I shouldn't ask that. It can always get weirder._

Anyway, with the air cleared, they moved on…but Averil made sure they were in front of her. Jacob may have been honest with her, but that didn't mean she still wasn't expecting a shot in the back. In fact, the truth only made her distrust them even more. So, yeah. Way to go, Jacob.

Eventually, after fighting their way through even more goddamn mechs, Averil, Jacob, and Wilson reached the door to the shuttle bay. Before they could go through, however, Miranda Lawson suddenly waltzed up to Wilson and shot him, point-blank. That made Averil disappointed…she wanted to be the one to shoot the shifty bastard! Even more so, after she discovered that he was the one that reprogrammed the mechs. Miranda offered to answer any more questions she had…but Averil just wanted to get the hell off this station. She'd had enough of it to last a lifetime…or two, in her case.

So, they boarded the shuttle. Averil kept a hand on her pistol the whole time…they may have brought her back, but she didn't trust them at all. If they wanted her trust, they'd better be willing to work their asses off for it. Still, she decides to humor the terrorists and let them take her to their leader…the Illusive Man, or whatever. She'd call him TIM. Heh.

Anyway, Miranda made a big deal about making sure Averil's memories were still intact, so in the shuttle, Jacob asks her questions about Torfan, her sister Audrey's decision on Virmire, and the attack on the Citadel… She gives short, nonchalant answers. Honestly, she doesn't care about whatever Cerberus rebuilt her for. All she wants is to find her sister and let her know she's still alive…Audrey's probably worried sick. But nope, she's gotta do a whole bunch of other shit first…but if anyone could reunite her with her sister, it's Cerberus. As much as she hates to admit it, she needs them…and, as it so happened, they _really_ need her.

"I thought we would be meeting face to face," Averil folds her arms across her chest, narrowing her eyes at the hologram of a man sitting in a chair, smoking a cigar. _He doesn't look so special,_ she scoffs in her mind.

"A necessary precaution, for those who know what you and I know," he replies, puffing out smoke.

"You don't know me," Averil retorts.

"I know more than you might think. How are you feeling?"

Averil rolls her eyes. "You need to _earn _the right to ask me those kinds of questions. So, just get to the point and tell me why you brought me back. I've got people to see."

"No nonsense, hm? Good. That's the kind of person we need leading this mission."

"I'm not doing anything until you tell me what's going on!" she snaps. "If there's one thing I hate, it's being left in the dark!"

"Be patient, Shepard," the Illusive Man says calmly. He puts out his cigar and rests his arms on his chair. "Right now, all we know is this: someone is abducting entire human colonies across the Terminus Systems."

That's not what she expected at all. Her arms fall to her sides, eyebrows shooting up. "What? What do you mean?"

"It's exactly what it sounds like." He pauses. "The colonies suddenly go dark—no communications can reach them—and when someone goes to investigate, every single man, woman, and child is gone."

"How do you know they weren't killed?" Averil asks.

"See for yourself. Freedom's Progress was the latest colony to go missing…go there and investigate. If you don't find the evidence you're looking for, we can part ways," the Illusive Man says with a shrug. He seems awfully sure of himself...

Averil folds her arms across her chest. "Is this a volunteer job, or am I being volunteered?" She was getting tired of being told what to do. She just came back to life, dammit, why can't she just relax for a little while?!

"You always have a choice, Averil. But trust me, it's in your best interest to investigate Freedom's Progress. Talk to Jacob or Miranda, they can brief you."

_Basically, I'm being volunteered, _she thought bitterly. "Fine. If I don't find any evidence of abduction, I'm going to go find my sister, and if any of your Cerberus lackeys try to get in my way, I'll rip them to shreds," she hisses.

TIM took a puff of his cigar. "Noted. Good luck, Shepard."

_**LATER**_

The trip through Freedom's Progress had been a very interesting one. Not only did she see Tali'Zorah again, but Averil also managed to find out who was abducting the colonists…and she discovered clear evidence that they were indeed being abducted, since there were no bodies, structural damage…no signs of any struggle whatsoever. Well, there wasn't, until the mechs in the colony started shooting at her. And that turned out to be the work of a quarian named Veetor, the same guy that Tali and her team had come to Freedom's Progress to find. Tali did lose most of her squad…but they were reckless and had no common sense, so Averil figured the Migrant Fleet was better off without them anyway. So, after taking Veetor's Omni-tool data (which included the footage he had of those creepy bug-looking things—Collectors, she believed they were called—dragging all the colonists away in some kind of pods, she said goodbye to Tali and got back on the shuttle.

When Averil arrives at the station once more, she heads straight for the room where she first contacted TIM. "Shepard," he greeted. He crosses one leg over the other. "I see you've returned from Freedom's Progress. I just got finished scanning the quarian's Omni-tool data…and it has confirmed my suspicions. The Collectors are behind the attacks."

Averil folds her arms across her chest, leaning back on her right leg in a "thug" pose. "That's all fine and dandy, but what I wanna know is…what are you gonna do about it? I've got no ship, no crew, no resources…"

"You have decided to help?"

"They're taking humans." Averil rolls her eyes. "Of course I want to stop it. But you're the rich one here…so help me out a little, wouldja?"

"Of course." TIM gives her a small smile. "Now that you have decided to throw your lot in with Cerberus—"

"Let's get one thing straight," she interrupts him with a scowl. "I'm gonna help you take down the Collectors, yes. But I am _not_ joining Cerberus. We are allies, and nothing more. _For the moment_. Have I made myself perfectly clear?"

"Crystal." He lets out a puff of smoke. "Now, regarding a ship and crew…I've taken care of that already. I've found the best pilot anyone could find, someone you can trust…and I believe you'll be pleased to find another familiar face here, as well." With that, TIM logs off, leaving Averil confused and dumbfounded.

"Pretty crazy, eh Averil?"

She whirls around at the sound of a voice behind her…only to come face-to-face with her favorite pilot. "Joker!"

The brittle-boned man gives her a cheeky grin before gesturing for her to follow him.

"I can't believe it's you, Joker," Averil says with a chuckle.

"You're telling me! I saw you get spaced!" Joker cries.

"So, do you trust Cerberus?" she asks. She wanted to know what he thought…they could catch up later.

"I don't trust anyone who makes more than I do," he replies, making Averil grin. "But, they brought you back to life, let me fly—since the Alliance decided to ground me—and…there's this." Joker gestures out of the window they stood in front of.

Lights flicked on one at a time, revealing a starship…but not just any starship. It looked exactly like the Normandy…only, with Cerberus colors. Averil's eyes widen, and she felt her heart swell at the sight of the ship. The Normandy was her favorite ship in the galaxy, and it felt good to see something she knew…and right after she was reunited with Joker, too! Things were starting to look up…

And that's when someone else called out to her.

"Averil? Is it…is it really you?"

Averil felt her heart stop for a split second. That voice…it was so familiar…could it be? No, TIM wouldn't be this nice to her, even if he did bring her back from the dead… But, slowly turning around, her hopes suddenly became reality.

"Audrey…!"

**A/N****: There you have it! The beginning of Averil Shepard's new life! I hope you find her Renegade-ness amusing! XD Oh, and in case you were wondering...Averil is pronounced AY-vril. Please review! We'd love to know your thoughts on the story so far! ^-^**


	3. Chapter 3

Author Note: Thank you to our follower(s)! :D Here's Chapter 3 from Audrey's POV. It's a little long (oops) but I hope it's still enjoyable! And! I've painted Audrey! Here's the link:

( musicalrain0. deviantart. (com/) art/Commander- Audrey- Shepard- 392764768 )

Just remove all the spaces and parenthesis from the link, and it should work. :) - Musicalrain

…...

Cerberus has been timely in their updates on the Lazarus Research Station – although the updates are frustratingly vague and only given in percentages. Audrey can only pace helplessly in the mess hall as she holds her coffee mug in a death grip. _What if Averil didn't make it?_

The hours passed, four cups of coffee later, and Audrey's omni-tool pings with a singular message from an nondescript Cerberus official,

_Prepare the Normandy and her crew for active duty._

So is her sister alive, or not? The last update on the station to sound deemed 87% of the research station as hazardous. Can Averil survive those odds? She's sure that the odds against Saren were worse, and they had survived that encounter – along with Garrus and Kaidan. But... Averil didn't survive the destruction of the Normandy. When her baby sister had volunteered to go after Joker in her stead, allowing Audrey to see to the remainder of the escape pods and putting out the distress signal, that was the last time she had seen her sister. And it wasn't even really _her _that she saw, not with the glare of the flames off of their helmets. She saw her _armor _and heard her static-laced voice over her ear piece. The last time she had seen her face was before that... and it was a quick hello as Averil walked past her terminal.

Regardless of her sister's status – Audrey has her duty to think of. Even if it is for Cerberus – an organization she's not much cared for until recent times. Despite humanity's rickety boat in the sea of the galaxy, Audrey has always held an interest in xenological studies. It isn't exactly _engineering, _but it is _science_. She likes learning, and learning about other cultures and ways of going about things are included. Cerberus is too... anthropocentric for her tastes. She's encountered them a few times, and she knows about their terrorist connotations from a distance. Her association with them is tentative – it is very much known that if they strung her along on hopes of Averil's resurrection, that she'd leave quicker than she'd say 'goodbye'. She'd not stay loyal to an organization that spouts human superiority and defiance against other galactic species. Some of her best friends are aliens.

Audrey pings her Yeoman, a... peppy woman by the name Kelly Chambers, to send missives to the Normandy's crew to gather their affects and board the vessel – it is time to use the SR-2.

…...

After ensuring that all the stations are manned, supplies aplenty were loaded into the cargo areas and hangar, and none of her crew are absent, Audrey replied back to the nondescript Cerberus official that the Normandy was ready for duty. The official replied with orders to send Joker to the docking station's observation deck and to double-check the clearance protocols with her Executive Officer on the adjacent deck of the mother station. _Odd... Why does Joker need to be outside the Normandy right now? He's the pilot!_

She parts ways with Joker on the observation deck, and after smoothing the pants of her Cerberus commander's uniform, she walks with a confident soldier's gait towards the area her XO should be waiting for her – a woman by the name of Miranda Lawson. She was also the head scientist of the project to revive her sister... and had hair that made her insanely jealous. However, the woman's sour ice-queen persona ruins any beauty of her outward appearance. It might be the inner feminist that lurks in any high-ranking military woman, but inner beauty matters more to Audrey. _Doesn't it to everyone? Well... maybe not Miss Lawson._

The brunette woman didn't even acknowledge her commanding officer with a nod of her head before all but shoving a data pad in her hands. _Always charming. Seems she made it off the research station though._

"Those are the clearance protocols," Miranda huffs in her accented voice. "Do check that everything is in order, Commander."

Audrey nods once, and begins to scan through the data pad's contents. Miranda turns towards the docking station's doors and says over her shoulder, "Be sure to gather the pilot before boarding."

_Now my XO's giving me orders? Not how it's supposed to go. _"I hope that was a suggestion _XO _Lawson, and not an order. On the Normandy, I'm the commander and not your subordinate. I'd be in your best interest to keep that in mind." Audrey says to the Cerberus lackey in a stern voice, one developed from being a leader for many years.

"Yes, _Commander_," the woman replies with emphasis. Audrey shakes her head as she leaves. She knows she's just to babysit her at the Illusive Man's request, more than be her XO. _And... is her catsuit even armor let alone a uniform?_

Still... she goes to retrieve Joker, from what ever it was he was to be doing, once she was finished. She finds Joker in front of the observation window next to someone... Someone in black N7 armor with severely ruddy coppery hair, and her hip jutted out just like... _No... _

"Averil? Is it..." She swallows roughly, "is it really you?" _I thought she wasn't supposed to be awake yet. Wouldn't she be in a... stasis pod or something? Or at least in the Med-bay!_

The woman... her sister slowly turns around from gazing at the docked Normandy. Averil's mouth hangs open in surprise, her whole stance shocked, but Audrey's gaze is drawn to the face of her baby sister... A face she wasn't certain she'd ever see again in person. A face now creased by broken, faintly glowing scars. _Cybernetics... Those are cybernetic nodes under her skin. _"Audrey...!"

Audrey blinks rapidly at what could only be her sister's voice, gasping her own name in shock. _It really is Averil, isn't it? They actually resurrected her._

She quickly walks the last few steps between them, and her need to assure herself that Averil is really alive drives her to place her hands on the armored shoulders of the sentinel-trained soldier.

"Averil," she swallows audibly past the lump in her throat. "You're alive. I... wasn't sure. I'd receive reports on your status, but... I could never be sure."

"I'm alive, but..." Her green eyes look at Audrey's Cerberus uniform with obvious discontent. "You really did leave the Alliance, huh sis?"

Audrey frowns and nods. "I did, because Cerberus said they could bring you back... And they rebuilt the Normandy. It's where I belong – with you and that ship."

"It's not the same," Averil takes a step back, her sister's hands falling from her shoulders. "Nothin's really the same."

"It's been two years, Averil." Audrey continues to frown. "They brought you back for a reason too. There's... strings attached to this – everything."

"I know. The Collectors. I just got back from a hellhole of a colony they abducted."

"What?!" Audrey fumes. "The Illusive Man put you on the field?! You've been dead for two years! _Two_! You need rehabilitation, a full medical examination, physical therapy – you have cybernetic nodes attached to your musculature for Christ's sake!"

"Audrey – I'm not made of glass." Averil frowns harshly. "It looks like I did just fine. I'm okay, see?" She gestures at herself. _She does look unscathed..._

Audrey sighs and rubs her forehead, "Look – I'm just worried. I just got you back. How about we go on the ship, and I'll give you a tour?"

…...

Audrey shows her sister the lower four decks of the _SSV Normandy SR-2_ and introduces her to more notable members of the crew – Yeoman Chambers, reuniting her with Dr. Chakwas, Engineers Donnelly and Daniels, also former Alliance, and the Enhanced Defense Intelligence, or EDI. Averil didn't seem impressed. She kept muttering how it was the Normandy, and not. That the Cerberus colors didn't look right, and it seemed... empty. Afterwards, Audrey tells her sister to take the elevator to Deck 1: the Captain's Cabins – a dual-suite with two private moderately sized rooms – one each for the Commander and Spectre of this crew. The Illusive Man had intended both their use of this ship after all. And Audrey had already swept the rooms for bugs. _Maybe some time alone to think will do her some good_. At least, Audrey hopes so.

Kelly informs her that the Illusive Man has requested her presence in the Communications Room, and so for the next fifteen Earth-minutes Audrey underwent questions about her sister, her stance now that the project proved fruitful, and her thoughts on the Collectors. The Illusive Man tells her that she needs to put together a crew – one that could defeat the Collectors in their home base. She tells him that she had a good crew, and she did for the fight with Saren. But two years has passed... the only crew of the old Normandy that are available or had known whereabouts were already aboard. Tali is with the Migrant Fleet, Averil had mentioned that she saw her on Freedom's Progress, and Garrus' position is even unknown to herself. The others... the Illusive Man didn't specify, but Audrey also knows that Kaidan is still Alliance. She doesn't know much beyond that.

She goes to her sister's room after giving Joker instructions to set a course for Omega – a station in the Terminus that holds two potential crew members. The Cerberus crew is efficient, and so she doesn't feel hard pressed to keep an eye over them just right now. Her sister's wellbeing is more important.

When she gets to Averil's room, she sees her devoid of her armor, and laying in her undersuit facing the empty fish tank on the wall opposite of the one separating their two rooms.

"You okay Avie," it was an old nickname from their childhood, but maybe it would be enough to pull her baby sister out of whatever funk she's currently in.

Her sister rolls over to face her, the artful fall of her coppery hair messed, and her face looking a mixture of vaguely amused and withdrawn. "Jesus, we're not five Audrey. Should I start calling you Aud now while we braid each other's hair like we used to?"

Audrey snorts and sits on the low, short leather sofa near the foot of her bed. "Seriously though, how are you doing Averil? I can't imagine any of this is easy."

"No," she sits up on the edge of her bed. "It's weird as all hell." She crosses her legs and purses her lips, "I'll get used to it though, you know? It'll take a bit."

Audrey frowns at her sister's short answers. "If you need time, I'm sure Chakwas will agree to signing off on a medical leave of absence. For as long as you need."

She shakes her head, "I don't need the time off Audrey. I'm okay... honest." She frowns. "The Collectors won't wait for me to get over myself."

Audrey frowns deeper. "You don't need to worry about them. Let me worry about them. You worry about you. If you don't feel up to combat, then you don't need to fight. I'm not trying to pressure you."

"God Audrey... You don't need to mother hen me. I know you're worried, but... Just let me shoot things, okay? I can do that. Promise," she uses a finger to cross an 'X' over her heart.

Audrey sighs as she relents to her sister's wishes. She's a big push over with her baby sister. "Fine. You'll be coming with me, Lawson, and Taylor when we go groundside. We're putting together a team for when we go against the Collectors. The Illusive Man-"

"TIM," Averil interjects, to which Audrey raises a brow.

"TIM," she continues. "gave me a list of dossiers for the best candidates. There's two on Omega, and Omega's fairly close. We'll be going there first."

"How long?"

"Two days at full capacity. The drive core is amazing," she says with the kind of giddiness that only an engineer can muster. She clears her throat. "One of the dossiers spoke about someone named Archangel – the exact location of his hideout is unknown. The other is a known doctor with a small clinic. We'll go after the vigilante first, as he'd probably take the longest to find... and I'd like to keep the doctor in business helping people for as long as I can before we pick him up."

"As you say, _Commander_," Averil snickers. "Wait... I'm probably not considered a Spectre anymore, huh? Damn."

Audrey stands to leave her room, "We can stop by the Citadel after Omega and see if we can sort it out. Say you've been in hiding, or something." She takes a few steps away before spinning on her heels, "Oh – and write mom. Tell her you had to fake your death – don't mention Cerberus or being rebuilt. She wouldn't take either of those things well, but she'd understand being secretive. She knows the Spectres are the highest of the black-ops. You can pretend it was a Council thing if you need to. But write her... It'd do her a world of good to know you are alive."

…...

Two days at FTL and using the available relays, they arrived outside Omega station. When they actually set foot on Omega, they were welcomed by a rather shifty looking salarian who's interrupted by a batarian sent by someone named Aria.

Turns out Aria is a very wealthy and powerful asari, and self-proclaimed queen of Omega. Their meeting was tense. Especially when they wanted to scan Averil and ensure it was really her. The asari did tell them about Archangel though, and so now they're headed to a merc recruiter to pose as freelancers and infiltrate Archangel's base to get his ass out of the... mess he currently finds himself in. All the cloak and dagger tactics make Averil twitchy, and more than once Audrey had to gently keep her sister on track – and not in a brawl. She's feeling cooped up. She has too much energy.

A batarian in Blue Suns armor looks at the two sisters leading the group into the recruiter's room with a slight roll of his eyes, "Well, aren't you two sweet? You're in the wrong place, sweethearts. Stripper's quarters are that way," he points a thumb to the right.

Audrey looks towards her sister to see how pissed she is, but is surprised to see her looking vaguely amused with pursed lips and a raised brow. _Huh?_

"Wow, not even a smile." The batarian drums his fingers, "So you're all here to fight, then?"

Audrey nods, "I guess you can say that." _Fighting your guys though._

He drums his fingers again looking bored, "Standard fee is 500 credits each, you'll get paid when the job's done. If you die, your friends don't collect your share. You'll need your own weapons and armor..." He quickly scans their group, "Looks like you've got that covered. And no, this does not make you a member of the Blue Suns, Eclipse, or the Blood Pack. You are a freelancer, period. Any questions?"

_Just the one. The reason we're here. _"Where do we go?"

He nods his head towards the door. "Just head over to the transport depot outside the club. One of our boys will take you from there." He raises his voice a bit, "Send in the next one!"

They collectively turn to leave after a quick transfer of credits, and see a boy no older than sixteen amble through the doors to the room with patchy, worn armor and a crappy looking pistol in his hand. Audrey takes the initiative, with Averil's help, in stopping the kid from killing himself.

…...

As they made their way through the merc stronghold, Audrey had felt free to hack away at several terminals, safes, doors, and even a heavy mech. Averil couldn't contain herself when she knocked out the Blue Suns mechanic repairing the gunship with glee – she was even more excited when they started shooting the other freelancers.

_She's really back. _Audrey thinks to herself, as she continues to wait for her shields to reload from the concussive shot from Archangel. She watches Averil completely destroy the others, even before Miranda and Jacob can do any serious damage.

When Audrey's shields have reloaded, they take out the last of the mercs inside Archangel's stronghold. Audrey orders the two Cerberus lackeys to wait downstairs as the Shepard sisters go to meet Archangel. _To make sure our backs are covered, and... because Archangel's obviously turian and we don't need to shove Cerberus in his face._

Archangel signals to them to wait for his last shot, before turning and sitting on crates nearby the sisters. "Garrus?!" Both sisters gasp as the blue suited turian removes his helmet – Averil with confusion, and Audrey with shock.

"This is what you've been doing for the past year and a half?" Audrey steps forward as she battles with the desire to either hug or slap the idiot. _Does he realize how much danger he's in? _"You've been on Omega pissing off three of the most powerful merc groups?" She steps closer, close enough to see that his eyes are completely watery, his skin and plates dull and ashy from dried flecks of skin, his mandibles are completely lax... and he looks utterly crestfallen. "When was the last time you slept?" she asks quietly.

"A few hours before I called you," he answers in a gruff voice, one more subvocal than not.

"That was nearly three days ago," she replies with thinned lips and fumbles at the pouch on her armored leg. "What happened?"

He sighs audibly, "It's a long story... How about I tell you when we get out of here?"

She nods and hands him a stim, one that he looks immensely thankful for, "Is there any way out of here, other than the bridge?"

"The lower levels have been sealed in case of flanking, so, no, the only way out is the bridge."

"Fucking fantastic," Averil grumbles from behind Audrey.

"It's not a death sentence," Audrey says as she looks over her shoulder at her sister before returning her attention to Garrus with her jaw set firmly. "How many people do we have to kill to get you out of here?"

His mandibles spread in a weak turian smile. "Blood Pack, Eclipse and Blue Suns."

The building shakes from the impact of a grenade launcher, and Garrus stands to tap on his visor. "The Eclipse are moving in."

Audrey turns to her sister, "Regroup downstairs – you're in charge of Lawson and Taylor. You've never been good at long range anyway."

Averil gives her a messy salute, "Yes ma'am," before heading downstairs with a spring in her step. "Time to kill some scummy mercs."

Audrey shakes her head before activating her own tactical visor, and jogs to take a place beside Garrus on the windowsill. She swaps her SMG for her pistol, and activates her omni-tool to direct her combat drone, Speedy, onto the bridge in preparation for the oncoming mercs.

"You gave Speedy an upgrade," Garrus says with what could be a hint of humor, as he indicates the white-shielded drone with a tilt of his head. Simultaneously, he inserts the stim stick into a port on his armored arm. He immediately removes his sniper rifle from the safety of his back as soon as he's finished with the injection, and readies himself for his first shot. The mercs are coming sooner rather than later.

Audrey mirrors his stance with her pistol as the first shot from his rifle sounds out, ending with a bright spray of blood and a crumpled body of a merc. Speedy hovers to zap at the closest merc until it's shields fail, and when they do the merc screams out in pain from a biotic warp – likely the cause of Averil. Audrey takes the opportunity afforded by the distraction of the biotically dying merc, to shoot three shots at another one before punching in the command on her omni-tool to send an incinerating blast on the now shieldless salarian. He screams as his fast approaching comrades become the recipients of an onslaught of biotics, tech shocks, and well-placed head-shots.

Audrey ducks behind cover as the mercs' screams dwindle to exchange her ammo and to reply to Garrus' last statement, "Yeah. He needed better shields."

"That's not the only thing to have changed," he taps with one long finger on the logo emblazoned on the chestpiece of her Cerberus issued Ajax Armor, just after he ducks behind the windowsill to swap heat sinks. "Cerberus Audrey? I never would've thought you a fan."

_Did that sound bitter? _"My joining was circumstantial." She sighs and quickly stands out of cover to take a shot at a merc she spots with downed shields. "It's a long story too, but I'm certainly _not_ an anthropocentric sociopath." She pulls up the hacking module on her omni-tool and begins hacking the closest Eclipse mech with vigor. A familiar large mech comes onto the bridge proper and cools its inner machinery with a loud burst of its fans seconds later. Audrey notices Garrus' aim trained on the heavy mech as she finishes the hacking sequence, and puts a hand on Garrus' trigger arm to still his shot for the mech. "I hacked that one earlier. Look." Sure enough the mech turns around and shoots a rocket at one particularly troublesome group of mercs that the downstairs team had been pelting with bullets.

His mandibles click in obvious amusement as he too takes a shot at that group and mutters joyfully, "Just like old times."

The battle doesn't last long after that – Miranda and Audrey take every opportunity to destroy and weaken enemy shields with their overloads, as Jacob and Averil use a combination of biotics and firepower to finish them off. Garrus uses his sniper rifle like an extension of himself, and both he and Averil too use their tech whenever they have the advantage. By the time the hacked heavy mech has exploded due to excessive damage, there's only two of the Eclipse left and they're quickly finished off by a combination of biotics and firepower – warps and a barrage of bullets.

Garrus pants afterwards to catch his breath, and closes his eyes in exhaustion as he slumps against the windowsill. "Only Blood Pack and Blue Suns left," he says in a harsh grumble. Audrey wordlessly closes his three-fingered hand around another stim from her stocks. He'll have the jitters like hell afterwards, but at least he'll be functional long enough for them to get him out of this death trap. _It's a miracle he's not dead already. _Audrey admonishes herself for thinking such things. But... she does realize that Garrus' odds were far, far from optimal. She looks at him with a concerned frown. _He was ready to die, wasn't he? _

"I never doubted your character, Audrey," he mutters with closed eyes as he injects the stim with practiced ease. "I was just-"

"Commander!" _Ugh. Lawson._ "EDI's detected large-scale enemy movement below and behind us."

Audrey pats Garrus' shoulder once as she moves to stand – the same time an explosion most certainly _not _a grenade launcher rocks the building with its aftershocks.

"The Blood Pack. They've finally gotten through," Garrus growls as he stands – energy now evident in his posture.

"Where?" Audrey asks.

"Near the back downstairs – we'll have to close the security doors."

This time an actual grenade launcher ricochets off the building's front, and Garrus brings up his sniper rifle to see a group of Blood Pack making a break for the bridge through his scope. "The bastards have split up!" he growls. "We'll have to split up too," he gestures at the group of humans before him. "You take your team, Audrey, and close those doors. I'll handle the ones on the bridge."

Audrey shakes her head in disagreement, her sweat slicked hair barely moving."I'll leave someone with you. You could use the extra gun." _You could use the extra help... Now who should I leave with him? Blood Pack means krogan, and I'd need Averil with me if we're going to face them face-to-face. She can handle CQC better than me. _"Taylor," she turns towards the taller man. "You're with Garrus. You follow his orders, got it?"

He nods, "Yes, Commander," and takes a few steps closer to Garrus.

_Jacob favors a biotic pull, and that'd compliment a sniper well. Plus... he's not a bitch like Miranda. I don't trust her at Garrus' back. _"If there's a single scratch on his plates, it's your ass Taylor. You keep Garrus alive." Jacob repeats his affirmation, and Audrey nods once to Garrus in a silent _good luck _before turning around and leading the other two women towards the second group of Blood Pack.

…...

She was thankful that she brought her baby sister with her to fight off the Blood Pack. If anything could be said about Averil, it was that two years dead _did not _impede her fighting prowess. _She's actually more powerful than before. Did they give her a new amp? And those cybernetics must make her stronger too. _Audrey's more than certain though, that the advantages her sister had gained don't make up for dying. Averil still lost two years of her life... and probably has enough machinery in her to almost be considered a cyborg.

When they finish closing each of the security doors, after applying medi-gel to lucky shots, they come out onto the main living space to see a troop of Blood Pack had made it past Garrus and Jacob. The krogan and vorcha don't waste time in shooting at the three women, and Audrey's quick to bark out orders over their comms,

"Averil – stick by the stairs! Don't let them get past! Lawson – we'll flank 'em. You stay right and I'll take left!"

_Krogan are tough bastards_, Audrey thinks just as three of the bigger ones barge past their combined firepower – and Averil. The biotic was knocked to the side into a wall, her tech armor failing and managing to kill two vorcha with its last blast.

"Lawson – keep Averil alive!" She shouts at her much-hated XO, as the engineer makes a quick dash up the stairs after the three charging krogan. Or as quickly as she can while dogging bullets. _This is a bad plan. Why am I doing this exactly? Chasing after _krogan_?! I don't do CQC!_

As she's running, she multi-tasks in activating Speedy and readying an incinerating blast for the first krogan she sees. It doesn't actually do much damage when the blast hits... more like just toasting the krogan. _Shitty shit!_

Audrey quickly dives into a roll to hide behind a sofa as she curses her idiocy and the potency of her incinerate program. _It needs upgraded. It needs upgraded. It doesn't hurt krogan!_

The best she can think of to do is draw the attention of the krogan and keep them off of Garrus and Jacob – to allow the two more fit for CQC can actually _fight_.

Audrey pops out of cover quickly, and shoots wildly with her SMG at one of the krogan. It doesn't do much more than bug bites to the thick plating of the Blood Pack brute's armor, but the shots do draw his attention. _And he's charging at me... Ah – shit._

She holds her ground, _like Wrex said to do_, until she's certain she must move – and then dashes to the side. The krogan rams into the wall _hard _with a crack, and Speedy shocking the krogan's tail. Audrey quickly shoots her SMG at the back of the disoriented krogan's head. She keeps her finger on the trigger until her clip's empty and the krogan's slumped on the ground dead. _That was... too easy._

She feels a shotgun blast to her side, but her shields hold – barely. Another krogan is coming after her. _I jinxed myself._

Speedy proves useful in being an annoyance and diverting the krogan's attention away from the exhausted commander, and allowing Jacob to empty his shotgun on that krogan just as Garrus finishes with the third – _that one was the leader._

…...

They're hardly given a breather, and Audrey a chance to make sure Averil is fine – her cybernetics having improved her healing and responsiveness to medi-gel, before Blue Suns attack the building in force. Audrey, having been downstairs with her sister, drags Averil behind cover before overloading a merc's shields and shooting it repeatedly in the chest. As she replaces the heat sink, she's more than surprised to hear the shots of something... _something that sounds an awful lot like a gunship_.

"Averil – with me!" She grabs her sister's shoulder briefly, before tapping on her tactical visor to thermal and dashing up the stairs. She watches helplessly with one naked eye and thermal imaging as the gunship shoots at Garrus with its primary weapon before switching to secondary – it's rockets. A rocket shoots Garrus and the turian falls back with a wet _snap _at the contact_. Oh god no..._

"Garrus!" Audrey doesn't even know she's screamed his name at the top of her lungs, and then she's running towards the turian. Her thermal imaging shows that he's still alive... his body's still warm and his heart's still beating. _But he's loosing a lot of blood. So much blood. _

Audrey kneels in the growing pool of blue blood, using her own body to shield the fallen turian, as she opens her omni-tool in a desperate attempt to hack the gunship's controls. Her fingers fly across the keys faster than she can focus in her single-minded desperation. She isn't aware of Averil drawing the gunship's attention. The sentinel repeatedly aims a biotic throw at its thrusters – and keeps it unbalanced enough that its guns can't lock on target. Audrey hacks the ship in the following moments, and turns off one of its thrusters. The ship spins uncontrollably as a result, until it crashes into the bridge and explodes in a small ball of flame.

Miranda and Jacob finish with the stragglers downstairs, before regrouping with the sisters to find Averil screaming into her earpiece at Joker for an emergency evac, and Audrey administering medi-gel to the prone turian in an attempt to staunch the flow of Garrus' blood. _Don't die on me Garrus. I said this wasn't a death sentence. Don't prove me wrong._

…...

They drag the heavy turian onto the Normandy's Kodiak shuttle with the aid of biotics, and lay him out on a stretcher on the shuttle's floor. The Shepard sisters sit on either side of Garrus to ensure he does not move, as Audrey tapes and holds thick stacks of medi-gel smeared gauze to his face and neck. _The shot wasn't centered, and his shields held off a fair bit of the damage. Thank God._

Averil looks at her sister with concern and curiosity. She's been watching the way she's acted about Garrus. Sure they're all friends, but... "Aud, what's with you and Garrus?" Averil asks in a slightly nervous voice, as she looks at her boots.

Audrey looks up from watching Garrus' faceplates twitch in pain to her sister with a frown. _Now she uses the nickname? And... what? _"I'm not sure I know what you mean."

"You're... close."

"Of course we are," she frowns deeper and too looks away. _How to be gentle about this? _"He... helped me cope... after you..."

"Oh," Averil says with a hint of... something. _Is she upset? Embarrassed?_ "I... I get it Audrey."

The rest of the shuttle ride is eerily quiet and tense with worry and thoughts of death. When they finally dock on the Normandy, all four hurry to lift Garrus' stretcher and move him onto the Med-bay's more accommodating stretcher that Chakwas is waiting beside. Miranda, being the closest of the lot to a medic, assists in taking Garrus up to the Med-bay. The other three, and the shuttle pilot, are left in the hangar until the elevator is available.

Both sisters are the last to exit the elevator, as they head up to deck 1 to remove their armor, shower and clean their guns in the privacies of their rooms. Afterwards, Audrey is pinged by Kelly stating that she ought to meet Jacob in the Communications Room for a debriefing on Garrus' condition.

_He'll be okay, right? He is okay, I mean. _Audrey tries to calm herself and walk without running to the Communications Room. _Couldn't they just tell me in my room? Why all this? Did he... did he not make it or something? He was bad, but... but I thought he was stable enough. He could have had internal bleeding though. A punctured lung, maybe..._

She enters the room to find Jacob already pacing as he's waiting for her. _Why's he pacing? That's not a good sign, is it?_

"Commander – we've done what we could for Garrus, but he took a bad hit." _Oh damn. I... _"The docs corrected with surgical procedures and some cybernetics." _Oh my God. So he's okay? Dammit Taylor! Why'd you scare me like that?_ "Best we can tell, he'll have full functionality. But-"

The automated doors to the Communications Room open with a hiss, to reveal Garrus... _walking?! Jesus Christ! He should be in the Med-bay! Why do the injured not want to be in the Med-bay?_

"Audrey," Garrus says as a greeting as he steps into the room a little stiffly. _Is he... trying to smile with one mandible? Oh that looks so... Jesus Garrus! You just took a rocket to the face!_

"Tough sonuvabitch," Jacob chuckles. "I didn't think he'd be up yet."

Garrus walks closer with his usual swagger, "Nobody would give me a mirror. How bad is it?"

Audrey finds herself smiling despite herself, and she crosses her arms as the all too familiar desire to either slap or hug Garrus overwhelms her again. _Shouldn't do either... But Garrus isn't dead – look at him! He should be in the Med-bay, but still... _"You were never really a looker, Garrus." Her smile turns into a smirk. "With enough face paint, nobody will know the difference."

Audrey hopes that her joke will cheer Garrus up, even if she doesn't joke often. _He still looks... horrible. Isn't laughter the best medicine? I know it's not actually... But a lighter spirit can do a world of good._

Sure enough, Garrus barks out a harsh laugh at Audrey's uncharacteristic attempt at joking. "Ah – oh. Don't make me laugh. Dammit – my face is barely holding it together as it is." Garrus steps a little closer to Audrey and shifts his weight, "Some women find facial scars attractive... Mind you, most of those women are krogan."

_Garrus... is joking too? What did Chakwas give him? He hasn't joked... not for some time. _Audrey smiles and shakes her head in an attempt to remain professional as Jacob salutes her before leaving.

"Frankly, I'm more worried about you, Audrey." Garrus continues once the Cerberus lackey has left the room. "I've heard bad things about Cerberus."

"Honestly, that's why I'm glad you're here Garrus." Audrey looks up at him with the remnants of her amusement from their playful banter moments ago in her expression. "If Averil and I are walking into hell, I want someone I can trust by my side... on our side." Audrey corrects herself immediately.

Garrus bends his head slightly, "You do realize this plan has me walking into hell too?" He gestures at himself. He then shakes his head, conscious of his injuries. "Just like old times, huh Audrey?" She smiles. _He'll have our backs, even with Cerberus. _"I'm fit for duty whenever you need me. I'll see what I can do with the forward batteries."

He goes to turn from her and exit the room, but Audrey reaches out and grabs his elbow with a slight frown on her face. "Garrus – you just got hit by a rocket. And you haven't slept in days. Why don't you try to get some sleep? We can move a cot into the Battery if you want your own space."

He looks at her, and she can't quite read the expression on his bandaged face. "I'll help." She looks him up and down briefly. _He's a little tall. _"You might need two cots."

…...

She gets him settled into the Main Battery with two cots, a slew of blankets and pillows, a few storage crates, and whatever else Audrey could think to give him... tools, clips and the like. "I'll have Kelly send someone to get dextro-food in a bit. We'll be going to the Citadel after we speak to this doctor tomorrow, so you can pick up anything else you need there. On Cerberus." She looks up at him with a wry smile. "They have plenty of creds."

"Thanks Audrey," Garrus says as he tests the strength of one of the cots as he sits on it cautiously. "You didn't have to do all this."

Her smile fades. "I wanted to. You... very nearly died. Even though Averil's back, if I lost you too..." She looks away, "We're friends, Garrus. Best friends even... We're on a suicide mission. Things... aren't going to be easy. We should take all the small comforts we can, while we can."

"I'll keep that in mind." He pauses a moment, "Your sister... Dr. Chakwas said that Cerberus rebuilt her for this mission – to fight the Collectors."

"Yes," she answers even though it was a statement and not a question. "It's really her though. I have no doubts."

"Neither do I. I don't know how... but she's just the same."

"I should let you get some sleep," Audrey says as she abruptly walks to the door and scrubs a hand through her short hair. She looks at him, and even though he looks utterly exhausted... Audrey can tell that he won't be sleeping. He has a haunted look in his eyes. _What exactly did happen back there? Something went very, very wrong. _But it's not the time to ask those questions. She can tell Garrus needs his space. He needs time to himself.

"Good night, Garrus," she says as she leaves.


	4. Chapter 4

Omega is a hunk of garbage. Dark streets, rude (and stupid) citizens, crime around every corner…it's a wonder to Averil that nobody has tried to just shut the place down. She couldn't even get a goddamn drink around here without something threatening her health! That was quickly resolved, though…that racist batarian couldn't bother any human anymore. Not with a cupful of his own poison in his cold, dead veins. The quicker they were off this station, the better…and this doctor had better be worth it.

"Hey, what are you lookin' at?"

Averil stopped on her way into Afterlife, when a batarian called to her from one of the benches. She slowly turns towards him, raising an eyebrow at his angry tone. _Ugh. Why do all batarians seem to hate humans? Time to put this one in his place._ Pulling out her pistol, she stares him down as she points it at his head. "A guy who's day I'm about to ruin."

If batarians could blanch, he'd be doing it. "U-uh…I'm not looking for any trouble…"

She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, pulling him forward until their faces were inches apart. "Maybe I am. Maybe you should leave before I find you some."

"Y-yeah, okay, I'm going!" She releases her hold on him, and the batarian runs away with his hypothetical tail between his legs. One of his buddies, however, stood there and made a gesture like a knife slicing across his neck…but, when Averil points her pistol at him, he turns tail and runs like a horde of angry Klixen are at his heels.

Averil heard Audrey sigh behind her. Looking back, she meets her sister's exasperated expression with a cheeky grin. "What? He was trying to start somethin' with me…he's lucky I didn't hit him. Or _actually _shoot him." Audrey rolled her eyes, but smiled slightly. "Anyway, let's hope Aria has some info on this Mordin Solus character."

* * *

"I've always liked Mordin," Aria told her. "He's just as likely to heal you as he is to shoot you."

"Hmph." Averil folds her arms across her chest as she stands in front of the asari, a smirk stretching across her scarred face. "Sounds like my kind of doctor. How do I get to him?"

"If you really need to find him, take a shuttle to the quarantine zone. No guarantee they'll let you in, of course." Averil's eyes narrow. There's always a complication. Nothing comes without a catch in this galaxy, and frankly, it was a bit annoying.

"Oh, they'll let me in." The copper-haired woman turns her head to the side until her neck cracks. "Thanks for the info, Aria. Looks like we'll be headed to the quarantine zone."

"You should find a nice young man to keep you warm in the meantime," Aria mocks. "You look like you need to loosen up a little."

Averil scoffs. "Don't hold your breath." She didn't even wait to hear the asari's response before turning on her heel and sauntering away. The woman may be the "queen" of Omega, but neither her apparent status nor her mightier-than-thou attitude affected Averil much. If she decided to cross the former Spectre, she could be killed just like anyone else.

"There's somebody standing at the quarantine zone door," Audrey observed when they crossed through the door to the market/apartments area…right past that annoyingly loud (and of course, racist) batarian prophet. "Must be the 'resistance' Aria warned us about…is he here to keep people out, or in, I wonder?"

"Doesn't matter," Averil huffed. "If he gets in my way, his face plates will be getting a few new dents."

"Damn," Garrus chuckled at the woman's violent response. "I nearly forgot how…abrasive you can be, Averil."

"Yeah, well…" She rubs the back of her neck, her cheeks reddening slightly. "Shit happens. It doesn't matter, anyway…Mordin won't be getting on our team any faster while we're just standing here." Before she started walking towards the turian, she stared pointedly at Garrus for a moment. She had noticed something…odd, about the way her sister had been acting around him ever since he was recruited. She couldn't put her finger on it, but if something hadn't already happened between the two of them, something probably would. Her eyes narrowed as his slightly widened, silently conveying a warning: "_Do anything to hurt my sister, and you're varren chow._"

"Avie?" Audrey tapped her lightly on the shoulder. "Didn't you just say that we should get moving? Why are you still standing there?"

Averil resisted the urge to huff again. The nickname Audrey used for her was childish and a little embarrassing…but she had a soft spot for her older sister, so she lets it slide. But if anyone else tries calling her that, they'll suddenly find themselves without feeling in a limb or two. "Sorry, I just got…distracted. Let's go." Jerking her chin in the direction of the guard, they made their way over to him.

They came upon the turian guard arguing with a human woman. _Damn,_ Averil thought, _That is one _ugly_ turian. Even as far as turians are concerned._ "I told you to get lost, lady! The plague has the whole zone quarantined! Nobody gets in!" the guard snaps.

"I'm human, you ass!" the woman retorts. "Humans can't get the plague! Now let me get my stuff out before looters get it!"  
"This plague affects every other race out there, we're not taking chances," he insists. ""Nobody gets in until the plague has run its course."

Averil saunters up to the two of them, eager to get to business. "There's a salarian named Mordin Solus in the slums," she explains, cutting right to the chase. "I've got to get in there to find him." And if the guard thinks she's taking no for an answer, he's sadly mistaken.

"The doctor?" The turian paces for a second. "Yeah, crazy bastard opened up a clinic in the district a few months ago. The Blue Suns weren't too happy when he moved in." _Mercenaries. Just my goddamn luck. Let me guess, there's some kind of mercenary 'territorial war' going on in there too, _plus_ that annoying plague._ "I hear Mordin's trying to deal with the plague. I wish him luck, but the area is still locked down. Our orders are to wait until either the plague or the Blue Suns kill everyone, then go in and clean up."

Averil folds her arms across her chest, getting into her famous "thug" pose. This guy was starting to get on her nerves with the whole "you shall not pass" bullshit he was trying to pull. "Take a good, long look at me," she says slowly. "Do I look like a looter?"

"Uh…no," he responds dumbly.

"That's right," Averil hisses in a sickeningly sweet voice. "Now, I'm going in. If I find looters, I'll kill them. Anybody gets in my way, I'll kill them too." _Including you_, she told him with her eyes.

"I'll…call the guards. They'll let you in with no trouble," he stammers, looking around fearfully. Averil smirked. Another successful intimidation. Man, being intimidating could be so entertaining sometimes.

The human woman took a step towards him. "Wait, you're stopping me but not them?" She threw a hand in the air. "You son of a bitch!"

"You don't have a grenade launcher, lady," the guard snickers. "Get lost."

Averil turns to Audrey and Garrus as the woman storms away, a hypothetical black cloud floating over her head. "Luckily, humans are immune to the plague…" Audrey trails off, looking over at Garrus.

"Turians aren't immune to it, but I'll tag along if you need me, Averil," the scarred turian says with a decisive nod.

"Sorry, Garrus, but you'll be sittin' this one out." She puts a hand on her hip. "Head back to the Normandy and tell Jacob we need him over here." _There's no way I'm taking that Miranda bitch. Too 'perfect' for my tastes._

"Will do. See you two later." Garrus and Audrey exchange a brief glance before he turns around and heads for the airlock.

Averil stares at her sister. "What?" Audrey asks. Her eyes narrow again.

"…Nothing."

* * *

"Don't shoot, they're cleared to come in."

Averil jumped, reflexively pointing her heavy pistol at a turian guard when he popped up, his buddy following suit. Her muscles were tense…it was just too quiet in this area. She expected to hear…gunfire. Explosions. _Something._ "Is it just me, or is this place a little creepy?" Audrey voiced her thoughts, her tone sounding ever-so-slightly nervous.

"Mordin is here somewhere. And we're not leaving here without him," Averil said assertively.

"Of course, I know that…"

Wandering through the district, they came upon a door, with yet another turian standing guard outside it. "Good luck in there," he says when they approach. "The Blue Suns and vorcha are shooting anything that moves." _Vorcha?_ Averil wrinkled her nose. _I thought this place smelled a little funny. Even for a plague zone…but, vorcha means Blood Pack. And that means I was right…there's a gang war in progress down here. Fucking lovely. _Nevertheless, she readied her pistol, activating her tech armor and gesturing for Audrey and Jacob to take it slow. Usually, she was all for an all-out assault, but with two gangs here and no familiarity with the area, she didn't want to take any unnecessary risks…for once.

As soon as they made it to the bottom of the ramp, Averil spotted the all-too familiar sight of Blue Suns armor. She took cover before they could see her, and the other two followed suit. Then, she slowly leaned out of cover…and blasted two of them with a powerful reave, ripping through their armor and sapping their energy. There were only two of them left, and with their combined firepower, they were killed within seconds. Which gave them a chance to look around…and it was not a pretty sight. "Looks like they just left the dead in the streets," Jacob muttered with a shake of his head.

"Burning corpses…" Audrey took a deep breath. "Must be trying to keep the plague from spreading." She suddenly grabbed Averil's arm, pointing at a body a few feet away. "Wait, I think he's still alive!"

"Maybe he can tell us where the professor is," Averil said, walking up and standing over the sickly batarian. _Always with the batarians…_

"Human…" the batarian muttered. "I should have guessed." He coughed. "Bad enough you infect us with this plague…now you lack the decency to even wait until I die before you come to steal my possessions…"

Averil folded her arms across her chest. Was this guy for real? "Oh, you wanna be like that, eh?" She scoffed, and her companions glanced at her. "We're here to find Mordin, not help some whiny batarian."

"Humans looking for the human sympathizer." The batarian started coughing again. "I hope the vorcha burn Mordin and his clinic to the ground!" He suddenly lapsed into a fit of coughs. "I hope you…I hope… Dammit! Damn you. I can't…"

"Hey, stay with me!" Audrey suddenly cries, kneeling next to the batarian and pulling up her Omni-tool. "This won't cure the plague, but it might help a bit," she says gently, swiftly giving him medi-gel.

The batarian slowly struggles to his feet. "You…" He frowns at Audrey. "You helped me. Why?"

Audrey smiles, giving a small shrug. "It's what I do." She puts an arm around Averil's shoulders. "And please, don't be angry with my sister. She seems harsh, but she means well." Averil huffs and pushes her arm away, her cheeks heating up in embarrassment. "Anyway…I don't know if we can find a cure for this plague, but we're going to try."

"You words sound…sincere," the batarian realizes. "Maybe it's the fever, but…what have I to lose?" He takes a deep breath. "What do you wish to know?"

"We need to find Mordin Solus." Averil steps up to the batarian, staring him straight in the…eye? Eyes? Whatever.

"He has a clinic on the far side of the district. He's taking in refugees, offering to help those infected with the plague. I was afraid to go to him before. He's dangerous…but, perhaps he can help."

"How is he dangerous?" Averil asks. Aria mentioned something like that, but she never clarified it.

"The Blue Suns tried to press him for protection money. He killed them," the batarian explains. "Stunned them with some kind of toxin, then gunned them down." He frowns again. "He's not just a doctor. Doctors don't execute people, and display the bodies as a warning."

_Oh yeah, he is definitely my kind of doctor._ Averil gestured for Audrey and Jacob to start moving, but as she began to walk past the batarian, she stopped and looked over her shoulder at him. "…When I find Mordin, I'll tell him about you. If he has a cure, I'll make sure someone gets it to you," she says slowly.

He coughs again. "Thank you. My time is running short, but at least you have given me a flicker of hope to brighten the darkness of my final hours." He pauses. "I don't want to die. Whatever Mordin is, I will risk it, if he can reach me."

"I…should go," Averil says awkwardly.

"Goodbye, humans. And thank you…" He glances from Averil, to Audrey. "Both of you."

* * *

"Have I ever told you guys how much I hate gangs?" Averil shouted over the sound of gunfire. She leaned out of cover just in time to blast a charging krogan with a swift (but effective) warp. She got back into cover, but snuck over to the other end of the stone barrier she was crouched behind, popping up and shooting a snarling vorcha right between his idiotically vulnerable eyes.

"Only about fifteen times in the last ten minutes!" Jacob shouted back, Pulling a vorcha into the air and then finishing it while it was vulnerable.

"Well, I really hate them!" Averil moved up to a position that was closer to the action, and as a varren tried to come up beside her, she quickly turned and bashed its face in with the butt of her pistol.

"Hey, at least these ones are weak!" Audrey laughs, overloading the shields of one of their enemies and taking him out while he was momentarily dazed.

"Compared to me, everything's weak!" Averil jokingly boasts, giving a mock-heroic laugh.

"Just because you've survived death, doesn't mean you can get cocky!" Audrey retorted.

"Ha!" Averil stepped out of the way as a krogan tried to charge her from the side, then detonated her tech armor and shot him in the neck when he stumbled back. "I think that gives me every right to be cocky," she snickers, putting her pistol away. "Alrighty, looks like the clinic is just through here." She gestures towards a doorway, with a clinic sign on the far wall.

"What was your first clue?" Audrey teases. She rolls her eyes good-naturedly at her sister's comment, but doesn't respond, instead choosing to just make a beeline for the clinic.

They made it to the clinic without any more trouble. They put their weapons away after getting warned by the clinic guards…even if there weren't mechs that would come after them, Averil would've put her gun away anyway. This was a _clinic_, for dying people! She was mean, but not mean enough to make them even more fearful for their lives. And they were definitely fearful…you could see it. In their eyes, expressions, posture…some even verbally expressed their fear. It was hard to see…even for someone like Averil. The plague needed to end.

"Professor, we're running low on cipoxidin."

Averil heard the sound of a doctor's voice as she rounded the corner into the room Mordin was supposedly in. She came upon a salarian with reddish-brown skin, fading into white in some places, with one of his horn…antennae? Whatever those were, one was shorter than the other. He definitely _looked _like a mad salarian scientist. "Professor Mordin Solus?" she inquires in a monotone voice.

He looks over at her, then takes a few steps in her direction. His Omni-tool pops up, and he scans her briefly. _Seriously, with the scanning? _"Hmm. Don't recognize you from area. Too well-armed to be refugees, no mercenary uniform, quarantine still in effect." _Holy shit, can this guy talk any faster? Did he put too much sugar in his coffee today, or what? _"Here for something else. Vorcha? Crew to clean them out? Unlikely. Vorcha a symptom, not a cause." He turns away, typing something into a console before turning back to Averil. "The plague? Investigating possible use as bio-weapon? No, no too many—"

"For the love of God, take a breath!" Averil snaps, storming up to him. Her sudden approach caused him to take a couple steps back. "I came here to find you, okay?! I'm Averil Shepard. My sister, Audrey, and I are on a critical mission, and we need your help." She wasn't about to stand here and listen to this guy ramble on.

"Mission? What mission?" Mordin shakes his head. "No, no no no. Too busy. Clinic understaffed. Plague spreading too fast. Who sent you?" He bends down to sift through a med kit below the cot he was standing in front of.

"Ever heard of an organization called Cerberus?" Her answer earned her a mortified look from Jacob. She glared back at him. Being honest with Mordin seemed like the best thing to do right now, especially since he would find out sooner or later, anyway.

"Crossed paths on occasion." Mordin's eyes narrow as he turns to face them once more. "Thought they only worked with humans. Why request salarian aid?"

"We're on a mission to shut down the Collectors, and I need your help," she explains.

"Collectors? Interesting." Mordin rubs his chin thoughtfully. "Plague hitting slums is engineered. Collectors one of few groups with technology to design it. Our goals may be similar." They nodded at each other, and Mordin walks over to another console. "But, must stop plague first. Already have a cure. Need to distribute it at environmental control center. Vorcha guarding it." He took a deep breath. "Need to kill them."

_Ugh! Of course there's a catch! There's always a catch! _"Just once, I'd like to ask someone for help and hear them say, 'Sure. Let's go. Right now. No strings attached!'" Averil mutters, throwing her arms in the air.

"Life is a negotiation," Mordin replies with a shrug. "We all want. We all give to get what we want."

Suddenly, red lights started flashing, a noise appeared that sounded like something shutting down. Mordin looks around quickly. "What the hell was that?" Jacob asked.

"Vorcha have shut down environmental systems. Trying to kill everyone. Need to get power back on before district suffocates!" Mordin says quickly. He holds something out to her. "Here, take plague cure. Also, bonus in good faith, weapon from dead Blue Suns merc. May come in handy against vorcha."

"A Carnifex Hand Cannon," Averil mused. "Oh yes, this will do nicely." Jacob gave her a nervous sideways glance, worried about the almost dark tone to her voice.

"One more thing!" Mordin cries. "Daniel, one of my assistants, went into vorcha territory. Looking for victims." He took another breath. "Hasn't come back."

_And he wants us to look for him. Of course he does._ "He's probably dead, but I'll keep an eye out anyway," she mutters. "And…there's a sick batarian, towards the front of the slums. If you could get to him and help him, I'd appreciate it." Mordin nods, and she turns to Audrey and Jacob. "Let's head for the environmental plant."

"Yes. Good. Restore power, release cure. Will be here when you return."

* * *

"Dammit, Jacob, keep your head down!" Averil cries, diving over to his position and shoving his head behind the barricade they were crouched under. Not a moment later, a missile flew over them, right where Jacob's head used to be. He gives her a wide-eyed "thank you", and she stands up just long enough to use the Arc Projector TIM gave her to shock one of the "Boom Squad" to death. "How ya doin' over there, Audrey?" she calls out to her sister, who was standing behind a wall a few feet away.

"No worse than usual!" she responds, sending out her combat drone and shooting a vorcha pyro several times in the chest while he was distracted.

"You better pick up the pace, then!" Averil snickers, earning a half-hearted glare from her sister. "Hey, watch out for the krogan!" She warns Audrey just in time for her to seek refuge behind another barricade, just as a krogan came around the corner. Averil hits him with a powerful warp, taking out his armor and allowing Audrey to gun him down. Averil then jumps over her barricade, dodging a missile and diving into cover, frying the last Boom Squad member with her Arc Projector. Jacob Pulls the last vorcha into the air, and with a quick bullet to the face, the battle was over. "The plant shouldn't be much farther," she says, holstering her Projector. She walks up a flight of stairs, but when Audrey and Jacob made to go into a door on the far end of the hall, she stops them. "Do you hear something?" she asks. They exchanged a glance and shook their heads, but Averil walked up to another door, on a left wall. "There's people in here…" Opening the door, she walks in, and then stops at the scene before her.

It was a human man, surrounded by a group of batarians. One of them had the man by the collar. "Please…I'm telling you the truth," the man pleaded. "I work for Mordin at the clinic, I came here to help you!" _Looks like we found David,_ Averil thought. _He's not as dead as I figured he was._

"We know you're spreading the plague virus. We saw the vials in your bag," the batarian that was in his face muttered.

"No!" David said. "Those vials contain the cure! Please, you have to believe me!" This situation was obviously not gonna resolve itself…so, Averil decided to step in. They all took out their pistols, silently walking up to the group.

"Maybe we should cut off your fingers," the batarian snarled. "That should loosen your—"

"Look out!" Another batarian pulled out a shotgun when he saw the three of them approach.

"Don't move." The first batarian pushed David away, aiming a gun at his chest. "One more step, and we kill your friend!"

Averil rolled her eyes, then glared viciously at him. "Pull that trigger, and you're breathing through a new hole in your head," she growls. "Let him go, and you walk away."

"Oh, God…" David whimpers.

"You must think batarians are stupid!" _Why yes, as a matter of fact, I do. _"What's to stop you from killing us if we let him go?"

"Let him go, I let you leave," Averil drawled. "Kill him, and I do the same to you."

The batarian reluctantly puts down his pistol. "Let him go," he mumbles to his buddies. They put down their weapons, and he turns to Averil. "You got what you wanted, human. Are we free to go?"

Like hell. "How do I know you won't shoot me in the back as soon as I turn around?" She smirks.

"Like I thought." He puts his pistol to David's chest again. "Kill them all!"

Before he could pull the trigger, Averil, Audrey, and Jacob open fire on the batarians, killing them within seconds as David covers his face with his hands. When the gunfire stopped, his hands fell to his sides, staring at the corpses with an expression of horror. "Oh my god!" he cries. "You murdered them! In cold blood!"

Averil stares at him coldly. _Ungrateful brat. _"You wanna end up like those batarians, just keep on talking. Or be smart, turn around, and get back to Mordin's clinic."

"This…this is wrong!" David glares accusingly at her. "Just wait until Mordin hears about this!" With that angry declaration, he storms out of the room. Averil facepalms, sighing.

"Did he…did he just threaten to tell on you?" Audrey asks incredulously. Averil snorts.

"Whatever, he can do what he wants. The plant is through here, so let's get this done and get back to the clinic."

And of course, there was a group of vorcha waiting for them. One of them turned around when they walked in, snarling. "You no come here! We shut down machines, break fans!" he hisses. "Everyone choke and die! Then, Collectors make us strong!"

Averil sighs wearily. "Your lack of proper grammar is charming," she says sarcastically, "But I've had enough of this."

And so, yet another firefight breaks out. Only one krogan charged them, and the other vorcha were easily taken out, but yet another complication arose when she inserted the cure…the fans were, indeed, broken. So, the three of them had to fight two more groups of Blood Pack troops, shooting their way into the fan rooms to get them running again. After the cure was beginning to circulate through the air, Averil and her companions found their way back to the clinic…with no trouble, surprisingly.

"Environmental systems engaged. Airborne viral levels dropping, patients inmproving, vorcha retreating..." Mordin starts yapping right when they walk through the door. "Well done, Averil. Thank you."

"Professor!" David scowls. _This guy again? _"How can you thank these…monsters? They butchered those batarians in cold blood!"

Averil throws her arms in the air. "I risked my life to save you!" she snaps. "Hell, I saved this whole damn district! Now you're _judging_ me?"

"Shepard's right," Mordin says with a nod. "Batarians tortured you, would have killed you. Right to kill them."

David recoiled. "Professor, how can you say that? You're a doctor. You believe in helping people!"

Mordin shrugs. "Lots of ways to help people. Sometimes heal patients, sometimes execute dangerous people. Either way helps." _Couldn't have said it better myself. _"Go check on the patients," he says gently. "Lots of work to do. Think about what I said." As David hesitantly walks by Averil, he shoots her a glare, which she returns. "Good kid, bit naïve," Mordin sighs. "He'll learn. Letting him take over the clinic. Should be able to handle it now that vorcha are gone."

Averil shifted. "I honored my part of the bargain, Professor," she says. "Now you need to do the same."

"Yes," he agrees. ""Unexpected to be working with Cerberus. Many surprises. Just need to finish up here at the clinic. Won't take long. Meet you at your ship." He takes a breath. "Looking forward to it."

"We're heading out." Averil rolls her shoulders. "See you on the Normandy."

* * *

Averil folds her arms across her chest when Jacob and Mordin walk into the debriefing room. "Welcome to the Normandy, Professor," Jacob says pleasantly. "It's an honor to have you on board." _Suck-up. _

"Yes, very exciting." Mordin nods. "Cerberus working with aliens. Unexpected. Illusive Man branching out, maybe? Not so human-centric?"

"Cerberus hasn't changed," Averil huffs.

"Collectors are abducting colonies out on the fringes of Terminus Space," Jacob explains.

"Not simple abductions," Mordin says thoughtfully. "Wouldn't need me for simple." He paces.

"Entire colonies disappear without a trace." Jacob's eyes follow the salarian. "No distress signals are sent out. There are no signs of any kind of attack. There's virtually no evidence that anything unusual happened at all…except that every man, woman, and child are gone."

"Gas, maybe? No. Spreads too slow. Airborne virus? No. Spreads slower than gas. Drugged water supply? No. Effects not—"

"Enough speculating!" Averil cries. His chattiness could really get on her nerves. "We already know how it happens. Mechanical bug things freeze them. We just need you to find a way to stop that from happening to us."

"Ah, I see." Mordin nods. "Will need a lab."

"There is a fully-equipped lab on the combat deck, Professor Solus." EDI's voice sounds overhead. "If you find anything lacking, please place a requisition order."

"Who's that? Pilot? No, synthesized voice. Have to ask: is that an AI?" Mordin wonders.

"You're not here to study our AI, Professor," Averil says monotonously. "You're here to figure out how to counteract the Collectors' weapons.

"Understood. Analyze samples, neutralize Collector attack." He takes another deep breath. "Which way to the lab?"

"Follow me, Professor." Jacob leads Mordin out of the room, as Audrey steps in.

"He's a chatty one, isn't he?" her sisters giggles.

"Maybe a little _too _chatty," Averil mumbles.

"Oh, you'll get used to it." Audrey stands beside her. "So, two dossiers down, a few more to go." She frowns for a moment. "Avie…how good do you think our chances are?"

Averil scoffs. "When are our chances ever good?" She shrugs. "I don't know how we're gonna do this, but we _are_ gonna do this. No way am I standing by while those ugly bastards kidnap my people."

"Me neither," Audrey agrees. "I just…" She sighs. "I dunno. This all just seems crazy to me."

"To you?" Averil smirks. "I got brought back from the bloody _dead._ That's crazy."

Audrey laughs. "I guess you're right. …Do you think we can trust Cerberus?"

"Hell, no!" Averil raises an eyebrow. "I trust TIM about as far as I can…nevermind. I can throw him pretty far." She shook her head. "My point is…once a terrorist group, always a terrorist group. After we hit these bastards where it hurts, I'm dropping Cerberus like used-up thermal clip!"

"Only you would use a metaphor that involves weapons," Audrey says, pushing her playfully.

"Yeah, yeah." Averil rubs the back of her neck, looking at the ground briefly in embarrassment before meeting her eyes, her pale green gaze determined. "We'll figure this out, Aud. Together." She held out her pinky, like she used to whenever they made a promise.

Audrey smiles, hooking her pinky around her sister's. "Right. Together."

**A/N: So...there you have it! Mordin's recruitment, in Averil's Renegade POV! Well...Renegon, really. She has her nice moments, as rare as they are. XD Anyway, please review! That would mean a lot to Musicalrain and I! :)**


	5. Chapter 5

Audrey is jarred awake by a bounce on her bed from something heavy, and as she groans as she opens her eyes, her thoughts on what the bounce was caused from is confirmed – Averil. Her sister had apparently belly-flopped on her bed next to her to rouse her.

The big grin on her baby sister's face lets her know that Averil found much too much amusement in bouncing on her bed. Audrey scrubs a hand across her face before mumbling, "'Morning – and you're here...?"

"When are we gettin' shore leave?" The smile stays firmly on the green-eyed woman's face. "It's been _years _since I've had a drink."

She blinks at Averil, "You do know that Cerberus allows more lenient personnel restrictions – there's a fully stocked bar in Port Observation." Her sister's mouth curls deviously, but Audrey plows straight ahead as the fog of the morning quickly clears. Something that literally being _born _into the Alliance trained into her – she's quick to wake. "And what do you mean 'shore leave'? Are we at the Citadel already?"

"We arrived at the Citadel approximately 35 minutes 27 seconds ago. As this information does not pertain to an emergency, Commander, I did not deem it pertinent to announce this prior to your scheduled waking time," an electronic, yet feminine, voice sounds in the room.

Audrey sits up, pulling the sheet from her, "Thank you, EDI. That will be all."

"Logging you out, Commander."

Audrey turns to look at her sister again. Averil continues to lay on her bed, "I have to get ready, and then discuss supplies to requisition with Lawson. Once the bulk of the orders are placed, I'll announce a 10-hour shore leave."

"Ooh – 10-hour shore leave. Someone's in a good mood."

She snorts at her baby sister's comment, "Not all shore leave for us – we have a meeting with Anderson. We'll see if we can get your Spectre status reinstated. The Council owes us after all."

…...

In the five days it took them to travel from Omega to the Citadel, Audrey and Averil had many talks. Or, at least Audrey _tried _to talk to her baby sister. She doesn't seem to take the fact that she was dead for _two years _very seriously. Audrey doesn't think it would be healthy to curl up in a ball and cry over all the time lost, but something other than flippant dismissal or short reassurances would be better, in her opinion. As Audrey heads to Miranda's office, she spares a glance for Port Observation, and is reminded of her sister's offhanded joke on drinking. Her face pulls into a slight frown. _Maybe this is all bothering her more than she lets on? Could what she's doing even be considered coping though? I wish she would just talk to me..._

And then there's the matter of the newest additions to the Normandy. Audrey has at least familiarized herself with the human crew during her stay with Cerberus as she waited for her sister to wake, but her newest members, if it were possible, receive more of her attention than the Cerberus members. Mordin helps himself to the Med-bay's supplies without so much as a 'please' or 'thank you', and is starting to grate on Miranda's nerves. Not that that's all too concerning, but the little things, like waking up several crew members on the pretenses of 'samples' in the dead of the night or sending piles upon piles of requisitions to Miranda, add up to a mild annoyance over time. And in five days, given that salarians need at most one or two hours of sleep a night, the annoyance level is steadily growing. Audrey does have a fair bit of respect and intellectual admiration for the former-STG doctor, as she can definitely tell that he's the best at what he does. And that's not an exaggeration. So she's adopted more the role of peace-keeper where the salarian is concerned, rather than demand changes in his conduct. As for Garrus, well, she still hasn't gotten the story of what the hell happened at his base in Omega. She remembers what looked like bodies with sheets tucked around them lining the walls in places, and that during their vid-chats she was assured that he was working with several people. Several people who, if her assumptions are correct, are now all dead. He is taking it hard – speaking little and sleeping less. She's worried about her longtime friend. _And the way he was willing to still go into the plague-zone knowing he wasn't immune is telling enough. Either he has more worry for our safety than his own, or he's not too concerned with protecting himself._

Her thoughts carry with her during her... _two hour _discussion with her XO, and that was even before she made her customary rounds. She was pleasantly surprised though, at the end of her rounds, to hear that Averil had already made stops to chat at the major postings on the ship – beer in hand. She caught up with Averil at her last stop – the cockpit. The sentinel is sitting in the copilot's seat sipping what must be at least her second beer, in a companionable silence with Joker as the pilot is only monitoring ship systems due to the lack of flying... Or, at least, that should be what he's doing. Audrey's glad to see that there's no hard feelings between the two. She knows Joker's feelings on Averil's sacrifice. Audrey shakes her head, and announces over the cockpit's ship-wide comm that there will be a 10-hour shore leave starting immediately. There are shouts, whistles, and claps throughout the CIC at the admission. A shore leave so soon after the start of their mission may be a little unusual, but she knows that prior to being on the Normandy breaks were seldom for the crew on the station. They also need various supplies, to refuel, to attend at least one meeting, and so a little R&R before things really start to take off wouldn't be remiss. _Taking all the small comforts we can, while we can._

She pings Garrus to see if he'd like to go to lunch with her and her sister, but feels a frown pull at her lips when he declines and uses the excuse that he has to pick up a few things and see about obtaining a new set of armor on Cerberus' creds. _Ten hours is plenty of time to do that, and he can't go to lunch? What is he avoiding? Questions? Comfort? Fun? _Her frown deepens at her thoughts, and it's enough to catch the attention of Joker, whose chair was positioned to face the CIC during the short-lived cheers for shore leave.

"Why do you look like someone shit in your Wheaties?"

_Imagery not needed. _"It's nothing Joker," she's quick to dismiss. "Ready to go Averil?"

Averil drains the last of her beer, and sets it in her seat as she stands. She points at her outfit, "Not in this Cerberus uniform." She points at Audrey's Commander uniform as well, "You should change too, sis."

…...

Averil settles on a plain, rather bright, yellow hoodie, black athletic pants, tank, and sneakers – the exercise wear Cerberus provided that, thankfully, doesn't have their symbol printed on but is in their colors. Audrey takes longer, feeling uncomfortable outside of a uniform and fully aware of the impending meeting with her old CO, settles on keeping the bottom-half of her uniform paired with a turtleneck thermal intended to be worn underneath a suit's under-suit in cold climates. She feels slightly odd, but isn't comfortable being in her armor on the Citadel, a civilian-dominated place, without good cause. She also doesn't want to be easily recognized as affiliated with Cerberus. Especially for the meeting on the Presidium.

Both sisters secure holsters holding just their pistols, for precautionary measures, before taking the elevator and passing through a rather deserted CIC and out the doors adjacent to the cockpit. As they pass through a door to a holographic interface and C-Sec security checkpoint, typical for dock entry to the Citadel-proper, the scanner beeps rather alarmingly, and a turian C-Sec officer and tech holds up a three-taloned hand to halt their progress. _Could it be our weapons? Averil's not-quite a Spectre, so we can't use that to our advantage... And we're not Alliance – no military personnel permissibility either._

"What seems to be the problem, Officer?" Audrey asks in a clipped, professional voice.

"Something must be wrong with the scanner," he mutters without looking up, and his brow plates drawn in confusion as the Officer continues to fiddle with his terminal. "It's saying the other human beside you is, well, dead." He looks up then, "But you're obviously not... I'm sorry, but you'll have-"

Another voice, obviously human, intones from a speaker into the room, "Send them through."

The turian straightens noticeably, "Yes sir." He types once on his terminal, and the door on the other end of the hall opens immediately.

The sisters step through, and they're met with a human Captain, who introduces himself as Captain Bailey. After a few moments he gets to the crux of it, "I know you Shepards, and I can save you about a week's worth of bureaucratic bull with just a press of this here button." He holds one pointed finger over the holographic interface of his terminal in exaggeration.

Averil nods in agreement, "Do it." And Bailey does – he allows them through, with their weapons, and without the hassle of proving Averil's identity. He feels he's indebted to the sisters for their actions two years ago, and his current position in C-Sec. His disregard for the rules concerning them is appreciated, if a little odd. _How exactly is he a _C-Sec _Captain with such blatant nonchalance for the rules? I shouldn't complain though..._

They make it through Zakera Ward quickly, and without too much hassle, to the lower levels of the Ward – Averil's a biotic, and a hungry one at that. Biotics require at least double the calories of the average human, and, apparently, with Averil's cybernetic implants and augmentations, she burns even more. Audrey has noticed her sister's hardly without a snack in her hand over the last few days. _Hopefully Miranda ordered enough food... She'll eat us out of the ship._

They settle on eating at a small, open restaurant serving ramen and the like. They share a large serving of dumplings, where Audrey has two and Averil inhales the rest. After, each occupy themselves with twin bowls of miso ramen topped with pork, or what passes for pork on the Citadel, and boiled eggs. Audrey sips her tea as she watches Averil shovel her food with gusto, and notices that they'd not said a word to each other since their food arrived. _We'll have to come back here for dinner if she likes this place so much. I'd like her to enjoy herself. God knows Averil's been through hell – does she remember dying?_

Audrey shakes her head and turns back to her ramen, as she tries to clear her thoughts. She'll do whatever she can for her sister – including signing up with Cerberus on a suicide mission just on the chance to see her live again. For hope. Audrey's self-sacrificing nature even extends to the little things, like ramen. She frowns at her food, again in thought. Sure it tastes good, but with every bite she can't shake the idea that the meat was likely manufactured in a lab out of who-knows-what, and that the eggs are likely from some creature she'd not like to meet. _The yokes are kind of... burgundy colored, aren't they? _

Her thoughts return to their earlier ones as she takes a bite of the curiously colored egg. Since her sister's death, she's sacrificed a lot. Her motivation, her will, her career, even her own happiness. She was devastated, even though she put on a brave front for their mother, and Garrus had helped her gain at least a modicum of herself – to cope. Then Garrus and Audrey both practically lost what they'd gained through their camaraderie and companionship in the face of ever-prevailing helplessness. Averil's legacy was slandered mercilessly, continuously, and without remorse. Audrey had to leave the Citadel just to get away from the press, and the resulting emotions their nagging and actions ensued. Garrus had left months before her, declaring a job that needed to be done and the need to do _something_. She didn't know he was heading to Omega with intentions of vigilantism. She figured he had just wanted to get away from it all, just like she did eventually. When Cerberus tracked her to Bekenstein, as she used her mandatory leave with the Alliance to struggle with herself in a unfamiliar colony, she couldn't help but to have... _hope _despite it all. She didn't resort to drugs or alcohol to cope. At first it was physical exertion – training with Garrus. And eventually it was self-induced isolation and reflection. Once in employ of Cerberus, in the company of Joker and Dr. Chakwas, her isolation abated but her self-reflection didn't. These thoughts, reflections, continue to trouble her despite their irrelevancy in the face of Averil's resurrection. They continue to be at the forefront of her mind along with a multitude of other problems, nuances, things she concerns herself over with an overwhelming sense of empathy.

"You're frowning Aud." Her sister's words bring her blue gaze to meet green. She realizes she had stopped chewing, as consumed as she was with her thoughts. She quickly swallows as Averil continues with a furrowed brow. "You're thinking too much."

When moments pass, and Averil doesn't continue, Audrey prompts, "...And?"

"We're on shore leave!" The younger woman waves her arms about in emphasis, and suddenly points a finger at Audrey accusingly. "Stop it." Audrey blinks. "I know what you're doin', so stop it."

Audrey tucks some of her hair behind her ear and asks as levelly as she can, "What am I doing?"

"The same thing ya did when dad died," she leans over and flicks her forehead. "Thinking too much, asking too many questions, and worryin' _way _too much." She huffs a breath. "So stop it."

Audrey's suddenly taken back to when she was 19 years old. She had just finished her technical training and education in engineering. She had signed up with the Alliance when she was 17, finished boot camp months later, and immediately was thrust into university – finishing a four-year degree in two. Their father, Major Robin Shepard, died weeks after her graduation in a skirmish with batarian slavers. He wasn't even supposed to be on that transport, but he had wanted to visit an old friend while he had leave. Their mother had stayed behind to watch over Averil, as she was just a young teenager then. It was at that time that those traits, the ones both she and Averil had just pointed out, manifested in herself, and nearly overwhelmed her. Although, as Audrey mirrors her sister's own thinned lips and slight frown, it was also at that time that Averil started to act out ruthlessly, threw herself in her training, and became awkward in expressing herself.

"Let's just finish our lunch," Audrey grumbles half-heartedly. Even with her dismissal of her sister's words, she'll still think on it. _And thinking is what she told me to stop doing._

…...

As they finish their lunch and pay the creds for their meals, they head towards the nearest transport to start making their way to the Presidium. As they walk along the lower Ward, they can't help but overhear the shouting of a distinctive and feminine quarian voice. "I did not steal anything! You... you bosh'tet!"

That catches both of their attentions, and it isn't long until they've settled a minor dispute between a volus, a human C-Sec officer, and a wrongly accused quarian woman. Their detour through the various shops on that Ward's level looking for the volus' credit chit, one that a salarian shop owner was holding as the volus had forgotten it, completely eats away at the buffer in time they had to go to the Presidium for their meeting with Anderson. With Averil's reckless driving of their taxi sky car, they make it barely on time, despite the agonizingly slow elevators they cursed every second too.

Councilor Anderson's secretary lets them in to his open-air office where it seems he's already talking to holo projections of the other councilors.

"...oh Shepard." _Which Shepard is he referring to?_ "We were just talking about you." _Ah. Averil. _He nods towards Audrey. "If you don't mind, Commander, could you please wait with my secretary?" She raises a brow in a silent question. _I thought I had arranged this meeting with him for the _both _of us? The Council still can't speak to me? Once Averil was made Spectre, they had hardly even spoke to me more than needed, as I was the CO of the ship their agent was using... And I still am. It seems the Council will always defer to their Spectre before me – an Alliance, and now... Cerberus, commander. Someone outside their direct influence and control. Someone with too many ties outside of their interests. A possible loose end. _"This meeting concerns your sister, I'm afraid," the human councilor clarifies with a sympathetic expression. He knows that Audrey doesn't like being pushed aside like this, but he'd also know that Averil will just fill her in on the details later – like she's always done. Audrey shares a look with her sister, and wordlessly turns to head out the door.

The engineer-turned-commander sits in a chair across from the secretary's desk, bouncing her leg in mild worry and nervousness. She's lost in her thoughts yet again, contemplating hacking into Anderson's office's security footage and rerouting the audio to her earpiece, when a nasally, and irritating, voice says from somewhere above her head, "Shepard! What are you doing here?"

She blinks as she simultaneously clears her mind... _Udina_. "Waiting."

He huffs in frustration and clear annoyance with her presence and answer. "For what?"

She blinks slowly at him again. All her eloquence and diplomacy fading to short, clipped answers in face of the man that had made a scene at her sister's funeral. _A shrewd ass of a man. _"Anderson."

He huffs once more and without so much as a 'pardon me', turns around and palms the security holo on Anderson's office's door. She stands up and follows him, as she's not about to let the inconsiderate man ruin the chances of her sister being reinstated. "Anderson, we need to talk-" Udina's words are cut off when he sees the other Shepard sister. He gapes like a fish, as Audrey makes her way over to her sister's side.

A smirk spreads across Averil's face, "Not used to seeing ghosts?"

"Of course I'd heard you were alive," he stammers quickly as he composes himself. "But I didn't think to see you on the Citadel." He spares a glance at Audrey, "Although when there's one, the other's not far behind."

"We had arranged for a meeting earlier. We just finished speaking with the Council," Anderson interrupts.

"You what?!" Udina gasps for effect, "Councilor, do the words political shit-storm mean anything to you?"

Averil visibly rolls her eyes, "I'm reinstated as a Spectre. They're fine with us staying in the Terminus."

"Yes..." Udina places his hand on his chin. "I could see how that would work well for everyone." He looks towards Anderson with an icy gaze, "But you really shouldn't have taken a step like this without consulting with me beforehand, Councilor."

Anderson straightens and fixes his own hard gaze on the man, "I don't answer to you, Udina. Why don't you go off to your office and think on that for a while?"

Udina deflates, and Audrey quirks her lips slightly at seeing the man put into his place, "Of course, Councilor. Good day to all of you."

Once he leaves the office, leaving the Shepard sisters alone, Anderson apologizes for Udina's behavior before saying, "Anyway, it's good to see the both of you well."

They both can't help but smile a little. Anderson's always been a good family friend, and a bit of an uncle in some ways. Averil's gaze drifts to the floor, so Audrey replies, "And you too." She looks between the two, "So everything's fine with the Council?"

Anderson nods, "It was... surprisingly not too difficult to reinstate your sister's Spectre status." He leads them over to a couch and two chairs arranged comfortably. He takes a chair as the sister's sit on the couch, "Did you have any questions for me, now that you're both here?"

"I've been away from the Alliance for awhile," Audrey admits. "I've kept an ear out, but... have you heard anything about Alenko? Last I heard he was on leave, though I didn't speak to him," she asks for her sister's benefit. Audrey steals a glance at her baby sister to gauge her reaction to Kaidan's name, but doesn't see much of one other than a little fidgeting. Averil was close with the fellow human biotic back on the SR-1. Close... but not romantic. But Audrey's not too certain on her sister's feelings in that regard. _She may have been holding back. She might have wanted a relationship with him back then. If we could find him, reunite them, I'm sure it'd do Averil a world of good. She might even genuinely smile! A lot!_

"I'm afraid Alenko's mission is classified," he sighs. "I'm not at liberty to disclose any details." _Well that's not helpful..._

Anderson leans back into his seat, "Was there anything else you wanted to discuss?"

Audrey looks at Averil whose lips are drawn in a frown as she shakes her head. Audrey returns her gaze to the Councilor, "How have you been, Anderson?"

He rubs the back of his neck, "This certainly isn't how I had imagined to spend my twilight years, but I'll manage." He looks at both of them, "And you? Your mother?"

"Mom's well," Audrey briefly looks at her sister again. "We spoke to her just a few days ago." _More like, had one of the worst vid-calls with her _ever. _She was just as emotional as I had thought she'd be, when she learned that Averil was alive. _"We're doing well too, considering."

He nods and stands, gesturing for them to do the same. "It was good to see you both. If you need anything, don't hesitate to send me a message." They agree, and part with quick good-byes.

Standing in the slow elevator afterwards, Audrey looks at Averil with a curious expression, "Was that a little weird for you too?" Averil snorts in answer.

…...

They opt to walk along the Presidium, instead of immediately taking a taxi back to Zakera Ward where they docked. A holographic sign with salarian script catches Audrey's eye, and she opens her omni-tool to take a scan and translate the letterings – a tech shop. She pulls on Averil's arm to drag her into the store,

"We need to buy new omni-tools," she says by way of explanation.

"Why?" Averil questions with confusion and a bit of exasperation.

"Ours have been tampered by Cerberus," she says just as they pass into the store's brightly lit interior. "They monitor our extranet searches, messages, and more. I can't counteract their run-times. They're too advanced... The easiest solution is to just replace the bugged ones."

After choosing a similar model to the ones they have, and omni-tools fully capable of running the advanced defensive and offensive programs they use in battle, Audrey 'talks shop' with the salarian store assistant. She works with him to carefully transfer their battle-ready tech programs and personal files – contacts, holos, music, notes, etc. – without transferring the code for the third-party monitoring programs. Audrey locates the hidden files stored on both of their omni-tools' core software. With help of the store assistant, they work to decrypt and disable the outlying programs that would 'stick' to any file transfers. They can't completely destroy the complex, multi-layered programs, or stop their current running processes, but soon the new omni-tools' chips are ready for implantation. A special tool, looking much like a tattoo gun, simultaneously fries and removes their old hardware on the backs of their arms near their wrists. A button is pushed on the tool's holographic interface, and, after inserting the new omni-tool chip in the 'gun', the new omni-tools are implanted below their skin and functional. The sisters transfer the credits, and quickly leave the shop afterwards.

"That took longer than it shoulda," Averil grumbles as they continue to walk along the Presidium and its crowds. They both can't quite ignore the ever increasing whispers of those that walk by, or the stares. It seems many, many people are in shock to see such an iconic, presumably dead human Spectre alive and walking around the Citadel. The things these people, of all races, are saying aren't entirely... pleasant either. The rumors and slander surrounding Averil have continued and worsened over time – two years did not lessen people's gossip and conspiracy theories, it seems. I_t wasn't like this in Zakera. I guess the people there don't care about the Council's, or Spectre's, business._

After a short time of window-shopping, Averil's finally had enough, "I can't take this!" She throws her hands up. "Do you hear what these idiots are saying?"

Audrey frowns deeply, "Yes... This all started years ago. I guess it didn't stop."

"I don't know if I can deal with this," she crosses her arms across her chest. "Let's go back to the ship Aud."

They hear the, not at all quiet, whispers of a couple of asari that walk past. "She looks fairly lively for a corpse," one says before the other answers.

"Who cares what she looks like? Those pyjaks are nothing but dirty virmin. By the Goddess, they even have hair! Disgusting!"

Audrey watches as Averil's fists clench and start to shimmer blue in anger, just before she turns around and storms towards the asari. "I'll show ya what this pyjak is made of!"

Audrey quickly takes her sister by her shoulders, gently, mutters a quick apology to the women, and leads her to a nearby bench without too much trouble. Audrey frowns as she watches Averil gulp air in an attempt to calm down. The commander looks around desperately for something to get her baby sister's mind off of people's reactions to seeing her. _Something to get her into a good mood. She was just reinstated as a Spectre – something she's wanted. She should be happy._ Another shop catches her attention, and after a quick scan with her new omni-tool, her suspicions are confirmed – an asari salon advertising its ability to cater to all species. She nudges Averil's shoulder,

"You need a makeover." At Averil's irritated expression, she clarifies, "Think of it like a disguise – if you change your appearance, people might not recognize you. They'll stop gossiping."

Averil seems to take a moment to think over her sister's suggestion, before nodding her head and heading in the salon's direction.

…...

_It really worked. I can't believe it, _Audrey thinks as she stares at her sister's altered appearance as she pays for their purchases at the Citadel's gift shop automatically. Averil had the length of her hair cut, her sister's hair now shorter than her own, but her bangs just trimmed. She even had her hair dyed dark... something far different than the coppery color it was. Averil even willingly used the tanning booths, that the asari salon advertised and charged a ridiculous amount of creds for, to make her skin a few shades darker – now a dark tan rather than the pale that most ship-dwellers are. _You can hardly see her freckles... And no one recognized her after. I don't think I heard a single snide thing directed at her after. _

Averil may look so different, but her expressions are just the same. Audrey watches as Averil, with rare over excitement, pokes at the glass tank belonging to her newest purchase – a 'space' hamster. As Audrey gathers up her rather excessive amount of newly-bought model ships, she can't help but reflect on the situation – but she stops herself. Her sister's earlier words resounding in her mind, and fortified by Averil's happy expressions. _She just wants me to be as happy as I want her to be. It couldn't hurt to take her advice along with my own – taking small comforts and not over thinking. Letting things go. Once people stopped gossiping over her, she just moved on... Maybe I should try to... to let her death go. Averil's alive, and right now, she's happy._

…...

Author Note: No real action in this chapter, but still interesting, I hope! :D I've also digitally painted Averil post-makeover. Here's the link (just remove all the spaces and parenthesis from it):

( musicalrain0. deviantart. (com/) art/Spectre- Averil- Shepard- 396280482 )

From that painting's description, I also give a link to a 'panel' I digitally painted of Averil too. :) - Musicalrain


	6. Chapter 6

_Fire. Explosions. __**Death**__._

_ The Normandy is crumbling around her. Familiar faces lay on the floor as she runs past them, deathly still. __**Faces of those who didn't make it**__. She sprints up the stairs, hearing Joker's voice blaring overhead. She opens the door that leads to the bridge, the lack of gravity making her progress painfully slow. She sees Joker still sitting in his pilot's chair, desperately hitting buttons in a hopeless attempt to save the ship. "C'mon, Joker, we gotta go!" she yells, running up beside his seat. _

_ "No, I won't abandon the Normandy!" he cries. "I can still save her!"_

_ Another explosion makes her cover the left side of her face with her arm. "The Normandy's dead, just like us if we don't get the hell out of here!" she growls. The giant laser from the enemy ship suddenly cuts through the Normandy again, frighteningly close to where they were. Her heart hammers against her ribcage. The ship—her home—was falling to pieces. Those who hadn't already escaped to the pods were dead. The two of them might be next. __**She was so scared**__. Grabbing Joker's arm, she ignores his pained cries and lifts him to his feet, dragging him along the bridge and not stopping until she saw the last escape pod. Hope flares in her chest. She reaches the pod and shoves Joker in it…_

_**Just as she was ripped away from his side**__._

_ Blasted back by an explosion, she grips a wall to keep from floating away. __**Fear grips her like an icy hand**__. She wasn't going to make it…but she could make sure one other person did. _

_ "Shepard!" Joker's voice calls to her, panicked. She presses the button on the wall next to her. "__**AVERIL**__!" The pod door closes, and another blast knocks her against the wall. _

_ She floats helplessly into the void. Nothing to hold onto, no one around to save her. __**She is alone**__. It suddenly becomes increasingly harder to breathe. Reaching back, she discovers a leak in her oxygen pipe. She desperately tries to plug the hole, but she can't reach it… Air leaves her lungs, but all she breathes in is…nothing. Her lungs begin to ache. Her head aches. Everything aches. She's alone…suffocating…_

_**Dying**__…_

_ Faces appear before her eyes. Her father, Ashley, Jenkins, Pressly…__**loved ones that she had failed to protect**__…_

_ And then, her vision fades to black._

* * *

_**BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP!**_

Averil gasps, jolting upwards on her bed. A bead of sweat trickles down the side of her faces as she rubs her eyes tiredly and hits the "silence" button on her Omni-tool to shut off her alarm, stretching her arms and climbing out of bed. _What a night_… The nightmare is still fresh in her mind when she walks into her bathroom. Averil splashes water on her face and dries it with a towel, gripping the sides of the side tightly enough to make her knuckles go white. _I've been having that dream way too much lately. _Every night for the past week, she's been re-living her death, over and over. And by the way her pale green eyes glowed slightly orange, she had been doing a lot of thrashing. She stared intently at her reflection in the mirror. How long could this torture last? How long would she be haunted by the suffocating sensation of her death, and by her dead friends and family? It wouldn't be long before her sister noticed that something's up. Averil doesn't normally let things like death bother her, but after experiencing it first-hand…well, that gave her a whole new perspective. And no matter how well she could act like she was completely unfazed, Audrey eventually saw through her.

"Avie?"

_Speak of the devil._ "Door's open," she replies. Her ginger-haired sister opens the door to her cabin, and Averil walks out of the bathroom to greet her. "What's up?" she asks, flipping her newly-dyed black bangs out of her eye.

Audrey gives her a smile. "Just wanted to make sure you're up. We're about to dock at Ilium." Her smile fades when she takes in her sister's tired, disheveled state. "You okay?"

"Just dandy," Averil replies with a reassuring smirk. Audrey slightly narrows her eyes, like she didn't quite believe her. "I'm _fine_, Aud," she insists. "I just had a nightmare, that's all."

"Alright," Audrey says slowly. _Uh-oh, I'm just about busted._ "Well, you should probably get ready to head out. We'll be there in about ten minutes."

"Gotcha. Thanks for the heads-up."

Audrey nods in acknowledgement, giving her a long, worried look before turning and walking out of her cabin. Averil releases the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. Judging from that last look Audrey had given her, she'd be keeping a closer eye on Averil for a while. She sighs. It's not like the nightmares are something to worry about. It's only natural for Averil to be troubled by the situation…she _died_, after all, and was then rebuilt by an organization of _terrorists_. That's nothing short of insane.

Averil shakes her head vigorously. _There's no use in dwelling on that now, stupid, you've got a mission to prepare for_, she tells herself. So, she walks over to her armor locker and does just that.

* * *

So…Ilium. Much easier on the eyes than Omega, and people even have the decency to keep most of their criminal acts a secret. And there wasn't a batarian or vorcha in sight! Hallelujah! Averil could definitely see herself coming here to relax every so often. It had a…colorful and soothing atmosphere. The people here were even _polite_. Politeness is hard come by anywhere in the galaxy, especially for a human. But, unfortunately, relaxation isn't on the agenda for today. Nope, Averil's here on a mission…then again, when _isn't_ she on a mission? This whole Collector fiasco is sending Averil and her sister to every corner of the goddamn galaxy, mostly just to _recruit_ people. This time, she's on a quest to find and recruit an infamous assassin named Thane Krios…but, of course, she has little information on him besides his name and a possible lead to his whereabouts, courtesy of her former crewmate Liara T'Soni. It was good to see the timid brat again, especially after witnessing her threatening some human man before she'd noticed they were there. She was quite happy to see both her and her sister, surprising Averil when Liara gave her a hug. It was a nice feeling to know that she'd been missed by more than just her family... Anyway. She doesn't even know what species Krios is…he could be an elcor, for all she knows. _Heh_. She'd have a field day with that…ugh, if he turned out to be a batarian, she'd shoot him.

Averil shakes her head, scoffing quietly to herself. She really needs to focus; the assassin wouldn't be…wherever he is…forever. Audrey and Jacob trail faithfully behind her as she makes her way through the transport depot, over to a small office area and in front of a desk, where a bored-looking asari sits. She doesn't even look up when Averil approaches her. "Seryna?" Averil asks monotonously.

"Who wants to know?" she replies, her gaze still focused on whatever she was doing.

"Doesn't matter. I need your help to find someone, so if you could kindly get your ass up…" Averil trails off, putting a hand on her hip. Seryna glances up at her for a moment, before getting to her feet.

"Cover for me," she says to the asari sitting at the desk near hers. After receiving a quick nod from her associate, Seryna walks past the three of them, gesturing for them to follow. "What can I do for you?" she asks, folding her arms across her chest.

"I was told you could point me to an assassin…Thane Krios." Averil smirks. "Is that right, or do I keep lookin'?" There's no way Liara would send them on a false lead. She has the right lady.

Seryna observes Averil for a moment. Her head tilts slightly, a gleam in her eye. "You heard right. What do you want with him?"

"That's my business," Averil snaps. "Now, can you help me or not?" After all, she didn't come here for her health.

"Sure, I can help you." She walks over to one of the giant windows and nods her head towards two tall towers in the distance. "He's going after Nassana Dantius. I pointed him to the Dantius Towers. She's in the penthouse level of tower one…and if your assassin is smart, he'll sneak in through tower two. It's still under construction." She smirks slightly. "I used to work for Nassana, but she fired me when I confronted her about her…questionable activities. Too bad for her. I might have been good enough to stop Thane from taking her down."

The name Nassana Dantius rings a bell. Averil remembers her from a couple years ago, when she and her sister were still chasing Saren. She was some prissy asari bitch, who tricked Averil into killing her sister. She…owes Nassana for that little trip, and she always repays her debts. Grinning wickedly, she stares at Seryna, the cybernetic scars on her cheeks glowing a bit brighter in her excitement. "Can you get us in?"

"Yeah, I still have access to the place. Just let me know when you're ready, and I'll take you to tower two."

Averil shifts impatiently. She wouldn't be asking for help right now if she wasn't ready. Damn, people are stupid sometimes. "We're ready now. Let's go."

"That's what I like to hear." Seryna leads them over to a shuttle car. The top of it pops open, and the three of them climb into their seats, with Averil in the passenger seat and Audrey and Jacob in the back. "So," she says as the shuttle car lifted into the air. "The assassin. You planning to stop him?"

Averil looks out the window with a secretive smirk. "I'm just here to make sure he survives."

"Hm…"

The car was quickly approaching the towers. They're a lot bigger up close…that priss must have been doing pretty well for herself these past couple of years. But Averil knows her type. Her newfound riches most likely came at the expense of a lot of innocent people. She absentmindedly cracks her knuckles, the ever-so-slight glow in her pale green eyes brightening. Her scars had been getting a lot worse lately—Dr. Chakwas said it was because she wasn't being "compassionate", so the negative energy caused her body to begin to reject the implants. Hence, the glowing scars. And to add to that, the intensity of the glow was tied to her emotions…well, more like her body heat and heart rate, but those were caused by her emotions, so whatever. When her pulse and body temperate rose, so did the intensity of the glow. Luckily, her eyes and scars weren't glowing too much yet, so that isn't really a problem. "Take us in, Seryna."

"Sure thing," the asari replies. She abandons the "road", swerving through the buildings and towards the front entrance of tower two. She lands smoothly and quietly. "Watch yourselves down there," she tells her three passengers as they climb out of the car. "Those towers are going to be _crawling_ with mercs. Make your way up a few floors, and you'll find a bridge that connects the two towers." She pauses. "…Good luck. Give Nassana my regards."

"Will do." Averil gives the woman a mock-salute, and they share a smirk.

"Thanks for the help," Audrey adds, elbowing her sister in the side. After she gives Averil a pointed look and nudges her again, Averil shifts in embarrassment.

"Ah, yeah. Thanks."

"No problem. See ya later." With that, Seryna closes the shuttle door and flies away.

Almost as though on cue, two salarians run, screaming, from a room inside the building. They both look over their shoulders, just as a group of mechs stiffly follow them, gunning them down without hesitation. "Looks like Nassana wanted her workers out of the way," Audrey guesses, a deep frown forming on her face. "I can't believe she would just…kill them all, just like that. Doesn't she have any regard for life?"

"Oh, I'm sure she'll be having a lot of that pretty soon," Averil sniggers. "But mostly for her own life." She tilts her head from side to side until her neck gives two satisfying cracks. Now it's going to get fun. "Let's go find us an assassin." Activating her tech armor, she gives a loud whoop and charges through the glass, crushing one of the mech dogs with a warp, the explosion it causes making one of the humanoid mechs fall over. Audrey and Jacob quickly join in the fight, the former shooting the toppled mech in the head, while the latter pulls the other dog into the air, spraying it with a barrage of bullets until it explodes. Averil blasts the other with her shotgun, kicking it out of her way when she walks past, smiling and putting her weapon away. Shooting things always put her in a good mood. "Alright, let's make our way up to that…" She pauses when she comes upon the sight of a salarian worker, collapsed against a door, bleeding all over the place. "…bridge…uh, what the hell?"

"Help…" the salarian wheezes. "I can't breathe…my chest is killing me…"

Averil scoffs and kneels next to him, applying some medi-gel to his bleeding wound. "Quit complainin', you could be like your buddies out there." She jerks her chin towards the bodies of the other two workers. "Alright, now that you're all patched up, maybe there's something you can do for me. There's an assassin in this tower, and I need to find him. Have you seen anyone that might be an assassin?"

The salarian shakes his head. "I'm just a night worker. Nassana…sent the mechs after us. She said someone was coming for her, and she needed us out of the way…immediately!"

"Unbelievable," Jacob mutters.

Audrey walks up beside Averil, holding her hand out to the salarian. He takes it, and she pulls him to his feet. "Whatever. We'll find him one way or another," Averil shrugs. "Anyway, we cleared out the mechs back there. If you're smart, you'll run outta here like your ass is on fire."

The salarian nods vigorously. "Thank you. If you find any other workers…please, help them."

"No promises." He seems to accept that answer, and he stumbles out of the room. Averil sighs. "Ugh. What a drag. There better be a _lot_ of mercs up there—I wanna get some entertainment outta this." She opens up the door and storms up the ramp, preparing to blast any Eclipse merc that she sees.

She doesn't see anything at first. Eyes narrowing, she cautiously looks around, until the sound of footsteps overhead makes her jump. "What was that?" Jacob asks. Averil quickly shushes him.

"I think I heard him over there."

A male voice echoes from the vents above.

"Well, go check it out."

A female voice responds. _Mercs_.

"You go."

"C'mon, don't be a coward. It probably isn't even him."

"Fine. But I—"

Averil hears several bumping noises and grunts, signs of a struggle. A few moments later, a body falls from the giant circular vent in the ceiling, and they have to step back to avoid being hit by it. An Eclipse merc…probably the cowardly one. "Not bad," Averil hums thoughtfully. The assassin hadn't fired a single shot to take them out…that takes skill. Skill that Averil can admire. No wonder he's the most talented assassin in the galaxy. "Alright, this whole goose-chase thing is bullshit," she grumbles. Looking at Audrey and Jacob, she continues. "I'm takin' a skycar." Audrey looks alarmed.

"They'll just try to shoot you down!"

Averil grins. "Not if they're distracted." After receiving two confused looks, she explains her plan. "You two keep going up through the tower. Help any workers you can, leave 'em if you can't, and do a little Eclipse housecleaning." She gestures to herself. "I'll snag a skycar and head up to the bridge. I wanna reach Nassana before Krios can take her out and get away."

"Are you sure that'll work?" Jacob asks.

Averil points at him. "Don't question me, Taylor," she huffs, using her "Spectre voice". He gives her a reluctant nod. "Good man. Now, you know what to do. Keep in radio contact, and we'll meet up in Nassana's penthouse."

Audrey ruffles Averil's hair. "Be careful up there. Try not to drive the skycar like you did the Mako," she says with a giggle. Averil "hmph"s and pushes her hand away, fixing her hair while she blushes with embarrassment. Audrey laughs, then she and Jacob turn and walk through the doorway. As soon as Averil starts walking away, she hears the sound of gunshots and battle-cries. Her stomach clenches, and she's suddenly unsure of leaving her sister and her crew member alone against a tower of mercenaries.

"Audrey? You guys alright?" she wonders into her radio.

"We're fine," she replies. "Just a few mercs. No need to worry about us, go hijack a vehicle!"

Averil snickers. "Now that's somethin' I _never_ thought I'd hear you say."

"Yes, yes, get a move on, dummy."

"Keep me updated! Averil out." She shifts her focus to her own task. No longer worrying about the two still fighting, she runs back the way they came with renewed vigor. Down the ramp, through the lobby, out the entrance…within minutes, she finds herself back in the parking lot. The lot is still virtually empty, but a few cars are still parked here and there. She makes her way over to the nearest one—an older red skycar with a yellow tinted cover…window…thing. Opening her Omni-tool, she hacks the lock more easily than she expects…the older versions must not have very complex locking codes. She climbs into the driver's seat after the "lid" pops open, jump-starting the car with a few quick electrical surges. The whole ordeal took a little under ten minutes…if she were as tech-savvy as her sister, she could have shaved that time off by five, but with her skills torn between tech and biotics, she makes do with what she's got.

"We found a small group of workers, Averil." Jacob's voice blares through her radio.

"They were trapped in a little storage room," Audrey adds. "I think…I think the _assassin_ locked them in there."

_That's odd_. Averil raises an eyebrow. _He kills people for a living. Why should he care if a few of his target's workers die?_ "Did you help them?"

"Of course we did," Audrey says. "We have big hearts, unlike some of us." Averil can almost hear her grinning.

"Hey, I never claimed to be a nice person." She stares straight ahead as the skycar lifts off of the ground. "I'm heading up to the bridge now. I'll see you guys there. Let me know if anything significant happens."

"Will do. Over and out."

Averil's eyes wander over the tower as she starts to rise to the upper levels. It looks like it would be a nice-looking tower, if they ever completed it. She briefly wonders what in the galaxy the towers are _for_, but she dismisses the thought. The owner of the towers would be dead pretty soon, so it doesn't really matter, now does it? "Bridge, bridge…where's the bridge…?" she murmurs to herself. Her question is soon answered when she catches sight of her destination. It's a long, thick platform that closes the gap between the two towers. Crates lay in various places, which would make good cover if she had to fight anyone…and lo and behold, there were mercs on the bridge. She stops the car, making note of the strong wind that rocks it. Taking a moment to size up both the enemy and the battleground, she discovers two rocket-launching drones placed on the "Tower Two side" of the bridge. Besides those, there were about five regular mercs, a Commando, and an Engineer. Her biggest obstacles would be the drones… A smirk stretches across her face. _Sorry, Audrey, but I think my Mako-driving skills are actually going to come in handy here._ Averil's famous for her reckless, road-rage, thrill-riding driving, which is why the team always got scared whenever it was her turn to drive. She doesn't have any passengers this time, though, so no one was there to complain. Averil cracks her knuckles, before rapidly pressing buttons on the dashboard. "Look out, motherfuckers!" she shouts, driving the shuttle full-speed towards the bridge. She pulls up at the last minute, but succeeds in sending a few of the mercs spiraling to the deaths. She twists and turns the skycar to avoid missiles and gunfire, maneuvering so that some of the rockets even hit some of the mercenaries. "Ha! Eat that, suckers!" she laughs.

"Someone take out that shuttle!" the Commando yells, shooting a warp at Averil's car.

"Not a chance in hell!" she shouts back, flying towards one of the drones as the warp bullet follows. She pulls up right before she can crash into the drone, making the biotic missile hit it. It fell over, and after a few seconds, it exploded. _One drone down, one to go. First things first, though…_ She stares down the Commando and Engineer. _I hope you're ready to die…_ A dark grin appears on her tanned face, and they stare up at the car nervously. Then, without warning, she slams on the gas and zooms at the two of them, ramming into the Commando as the Engineer jumps out of the way…but fate turns against him, because he jumps too close to the edge. He loses his footing, slipping off the edge and joining the Commando on her fall to the ground way below. As he falls, however, he decides to go down with a bang…he shoots an Incinerate at the skycar, catching Averil off-guard. She doesn't react fast enough, and the blast of fire hits the side of the car. Red warning signs suddenly start flashing on the dashboard, and she starts to panic. On top of that, the other drone continues to fire missiles at her, and with a damaged shuttle, it takes all her reckless driving skills to avoid them. But the drone was relentless, not giving her a moment's rest to fix the damage done to her shuttle. "Fuck. Fuck. _Fuck._" She desperately presses buttons, but the warning lights continue to flash, the fire raging around her car causing the engine to begin to overheat. "Alright, let's see how you handle _this._" Cracking her neck, she pops open the "lid" to the skycar, then slams on the gas once again, this time aiming for the drone. As the car approaches the drone, she leaps out of it, tucking and rolling onto the bridge. The car crashes into the drone, and a huge explosion lights up the darker sky. Averil jumps to her feet, taking a moment to admire her handiwork. Dead mercenaries lay in several places, and most of the bridge was scorched. The wreckage from the skycar was engulfed in flames, and she nods approvingly.

"Averil? What the hell's going on up there? We could feel and hear those explosions from down here!" Audrey's voice appears in her radio, sounding alarmed.

"Heh. Don't worry, sis, I was just taking care of some business. You shouldn't have any trouble on the bridge, by the way…" She giggles. "You're welcome!"  
Audrey sighs. "I'm not anticipating the sight I'll be seeing when we get up there." Averil grins. "Anyway, we found another group of workers. They seemed really worked up, but we calmed them down. We should be up to the bridge in about ten minutes or so."

"Gotcha. See ya when I see ya." Averil clicks off the radio, sauntering up the ramp and towards the elevator that leads to Nassana's penthouse. "Time to see what this assassin's all about." She opens the door to the elevator, stepping inside and pushing the penthouse level button. And now…she waits.

* * *

"You!"

Averil is greeted by Nassana's hiss when she walks through the penthouse door. She smirks, stopping in front of the desk and folding her arms across her chest, her eyes skimming over the few mercs that stood around her. "Nassana. Miss me?"

"You're supposed to be dead!" the asari cries incredulously.

Her head tilts. "I got better," she says sarcastically.

Nassana scoffs. "You must think this is all very ironic. First, you take care of my sister…and now you're here for me."

Averil rolls her eyes. "Don't flatter yourself. You're not _that_ important."

"Why else would you be here?"

"Maybe I just missed you," she snickers. Nassana glares at her.

"And so you destroy my tower? Decimate my security?" Her glare deepens. "Do you take me for a fool?"

"What was your first clue?" Averil drawls, her expression cold. "I'm not here for you, Nassana. But I wouldn't stop this even if I wanted to." As she says that, she hears bumping noises in the vents. _He's here,_ she sings in her mind.

"What do you mean? Of course you can stop it! Just don't…" She turns her glare to one of her guards, who was fidgeting nervously. "What?!"

"I heard something," she replies.

"Go check out the entrances!" Nassana commands, looking more and more desperate by the minute. "Is it credits?" she asks Averil. "Is that what you want? Just name your price! We can make this problem go away!"

The noises increase in volume, and Averil smirks darkly. "All the credits in the world won't make this problem go away, Nassana." She pauses. "Oh, and Seryna gives her regards."

Suddenly, the assassin silently slips down from the vent. She watches as he comes up behind one of the mercs, snapping his neck. He punches another in the throat, crushing his esophagus, taking out his pistol and shooting the last merc directly through the heart. "What the—" Those are the only words Nassana is able to utter before he grabs her, pressing his gun against her gut and firing. His eyes close as she gasps, and he lays her against her desk, folding her arms over her chest as the life slowly fades from her body. _That was a badass entrance_. Averil puts a hand on her hip, staring at the assassin, but he doesn't even look at her. Instead, he folds his hands together, head bent, as though he were…praying.

"Oi, I went through a lot of trouble to find you, the least you can do is look at me!" she snaps, annoyed that he was ignoring her.

"Prayers for the dead must never be forsaken," he mumbles, his voice deep and gravelly. Her eyes wander up and down Thane's body. He _definitely_ isn't a batarian… She takes in his appearance, from his light green and black scales, to his large black eyes, to the tight leather clothes he wore. If she wasn't mistaken…Thane Krios is a drell. Her eyebrows slowly raise. Drell were few and far between. She'd never seen one in her life, even with all the places she'd travelled around galaxy…but if all drell males look like this one, she'd like to see more of them. Averil wasn't big on aliens, but if there were a male equivalent of asari, they would be drell. The clothes Thane wore left little to the imagination, and although he was…oddly colored, he had a very handsome face.

"Yeah…uh, I don't think she really deserves it," Averil says slowly, scowling at Nassana's corpse.

"Not for her," he replies softly. He lifts his head, glancing at her. "For me." He slowly walks around the desk, running his hand along the edge. "I was curious to see how far you'd go to find me." He stops, standing in front of her. The setting sun in the background cast a lovely orange glow on his back, giving him a mysterious look. "Well, here I am." His eyes slightly narrow, and he stares at her.

"I can see that." Averil's eyes narrow as well, and she folds her arms across her chest. "How the hell did you know I was looking for you?"

"The sound of gunfire and explosions. I prefer to work quietly. If I have to fight through guards, I've made a mistake…" He pauses. "I rarely make mistakes."

_Someone's confident._ "Whatever." Averil takes a deep breath. "The name's Averil Shepard. I'm on a mission to destroy the Collectors, and I want your help."

"The Collectors?" Thane raises a brow. "I have heard of them. They do not typically bother others."

"I guess they got bored," Averil sneers. "Because they've been abducting human colonies. I'm gonna put a stop to it."

"I see…" Thane eyes her skeptically. "Defeating the Collectors would require passing through the Omega 4 relay. No ship has ever returned from doing so."

"They couldn't cut it." Averil cracks her knuckles. "I've had my share of impossible tasks, and I'm still standing. This won't become a suicide mission if I can help it."

"A suicide mission…" Thane turns towards the giant window of the penthouse, clasping his hands behind his back. "Yes…a suicide mission will do nicely." Averil's eye twitches. Didn't she just say it _won't_ be a suicide mission? Thane glances at her. "…I'm dying."

Her eyes widen. She wasn't expecting _that!_ "What?!" Why hadn't she been told?! "Are you contagious? How much time do you have left?" If she came all this way just to have her potential recruit die, she'd be pissed.

"My illness is not a danger to anyone else," he says reassuringly. "If you are interested, we can discuss it further on your ship." _Oh really?_

Her lips curl upward in a half-smirk. "So you'll come with me?"

Thane holds out his hand, letting Averil catch a glimpse of the way his middle and ring fingers were fused together. _That's…weird._ "I will work for you, Shepard," he rumbles, smiling ever-so-slightly as she grasps his hand firmly, shaking it up and down. "No charge."

"That's what I like to hear. Follow me, and we'll—"

The door behind her suddenly opens, and Audrey and Jacob walk up behind her. "Avie!" Audrey cries happily. She throws her arms around her sister's shoulders. "I'm glad you're not injured! The bridge is a _wreck!_"

Averil huffs. "Yeah, yeah, I did warn ya. Get _off_ me…" she puffs out her cheeks, pushing her sister's arms away and feeling her cheeks get warm with embarrassment from the show of sisterly affection. Audrey giggles, ruffling her hair, then turns to face Thane.

"I take it this is our assassin?" Averil nods, and she holds her hand out to him. "I'm Audrey Shepard, Averil's older sister. We're leading this entire thing together. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Thane shakes her hand, bowing his head slightly. "Thane Krios. The pleasure is mine."

Averil looks expectantly at Jacob, but he simply scowls at Thane, not saying a word. She purses her lips. "And this is Jacob Taylor," she says to Thane, jabbing him sharply in the side with her elbow. "He's part of our crew. Say hello," she hisses at Jacob.

"Hello," Jacob reluctantly mutters.

_Looks like he's not too fond of assassins. _Averil clenches her jaw. _If either one of them cause trouble, I'll kick their asses._ "Yeah, well…now that we all know each other, can we leave?" She jerks her thumb towards the door. "I'm sick of this tower. And I'm hungry. We've still got snacks on the Normandy, right?"

"Yes, if you haven't eaten them all," Audrey teases. Averil sticks her tongue out childishly. "I agree, though, we should get you settled in as soon as possible," she tells Thane. "Are you ready to leave?"

"Whenever you are," he replies.

"Good." Averil rolls her shoulders, gesturing towards the door. "Move out!"

**A/N: Well. That turned out to be longer than I expected! And it was also kinda hard to write out the action-y parts…I apologize if they suck. XD Anyway…Thane's been recruited! Yay! :D We're kinda going out of order with these missions…it's all for the sake of the story, I promise. ^-^ Let us know what you think!**


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